Apple profits fall for the first time in a decade

Apple’s profits have dropped for the first time in ten years, with the computing giant reporting its quarterly results for January-March 2012.

The Apple Store in Beijing
The Apple Store in Beijing

Apple made a net profit of $9.5 billion (£6.2 billion) down year-on-year from its profits of $11.6 billion (£7.6 billion) for the same period last year.

However, revenues were up year-on-year, due in part to an increase in product sales.

Apple says it sold 19.5 million iPads in January-March 2013, compared to 11.8 million for the same period last year. It also sold 37.4 million iPhones in the quarter, compared to 35.1 million in last year’s quarter.

Some analysts have put the fall in Apple profits down to a lack of new product launches. The most recent launch was the 27-inch iMac, which was released last November.

There have also been concerns that Apple’s market share might be eroded by launches from rivals including Samsung and BlackBerry, which recently released a series of new products.

However, Apple chief executive Tim Cook alluded to new product launches from the company, saying, ‘Out teams are hard at work on some amazing new hardware, software and services and we are very excited about the products in our pipeline.’

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