Apple to return to growth as iPhone 7 boosts sales

iPhone 7 launch
The figures will be the first affected by sales of the iPhone 7 Credit: AP

Apple is set to post record iPhone sales this week, reversing three straight quarters of decline and easing concerns about over-reliance on the diminishing smartphone market.

On Tuesday the world’s largest publicly-traded company will reveal results for the Christmas quarter, a critical period that followed the release of the iPhone 7

Apple posted its first annual fall in revenues and profits for 15 years in October as iPhone sales dropped for the first time and iPad sales continued to decline.

The sudden downturn led pundits to claim that the company had peaked as innovation appeared to stall and the smartphone market’s spectacular growth ran out of steam.

Apple is expected to have sold 78m iPhones in the three months to December, up from 75m a year ago, with revenues rising to $77.9bn (£62bn). Profits, however, are expected to dip slightly due to higher production costs for the latest device.

Investors will be on alert for revenues in Apple’s services division, which includes app sales, its cloud services and music. The division has been a rare growth area for Apple in the last year.

Analysts will also scrutinise the figures for any signs of Apple Watch sales. The company does not reveal figures for the device but chief executive Tim Cook recently said Apple had had a record week after the release of a new model.

Apple shares are currently trading at their highest level in over a year.

 

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