With iPhone sales making a brutal nosedive in China and no new product to back up the loss from its second largest market, Apple has suffered its first sales plummet for the iPhone since 2003, tragically ending the tech titan's stellar 13-year run.
Ever since the very first iPhone was released back in 2007, the smartphone continued to grow and outperform itself every year, until now that is. The poor iPhone sales officially end the incredible era for the handset.
Reuters reports that Apple only sold 51.2 million iPhones during its second fiscal quarter, a major let-down compared to the 61.2 million units it sold last year. Media outlets say that analysts always knew it was bound to happen, but Apple is expected to rise above it.
"There's no question that Apple's best days are behind it," Bernstein brokerage firm analyst Toni Sacconaghi told the New York Times. "The company grew at astronomical rates, and it's now so big that its ability to grow at those rates doesn't exist anymore," he explained.
Apple CEO Tim Cook admits in a Wall Street Journal interview that this quarter was "challenging," but assured that what is considered the world's most valuable company is not going downhill and that "this too shall pass."
"It's a tough bar to hurdle, but it doesn't change the future. The future is very bright," Cook guaranteed. According to the New York Times, it was a tough year for Apple, with powerful but less expensive Android handsets giving the iPhone 6s a run for its money.
Cook, however, sees the crash as part of the iPhone's two-year product cycle. The Apple CEO promised that there's a lot more to come.
"Our product pipeline has amazing innovations in store," he said via Reuters.
This begs the question of whether or not the heavily rumored iPhone 7 could be the saving grace that will turn the tables for Apple. The latest reports about the flagship claim that it will receive an extreme makeover, with the Cupertino giant hoping to eliminate even the physical home button.
The device is also billed to be the thinnest iPhone when it is released as it ditches the 3.5mm headphone jack. Users also expect an upgrade on the processor, the camera and the battery life.
