IPhone second-quarter sales drop less than predicted

million iPhones in the third quarter, down 15 percent from the year-ago quarter but slightly more than the Apple Inc. sold more iPhones than average analyst forecast of 40.02 Wall Street expected in the third million, according to research firm quarter and estimated its revenue in FactSet StreetAccount. the current period would top many IPhone sales dropped for the secanalysts’ targets, soothing fears that ond straight quarter, pushing down demand for the company’s most imApple’s total revenue 14.6 percent in portant product had hit a wall. the fiscal third quarter, ended June 25.Itssharesrose7percentinafter-hours trading. Demand for Apple’s phones has

The world’s most valuable publicwaned in China, partly because of ly traded company said it sold 40.4 economic uncertainty there, and has also slowed in more mature markets as people tend to hold on to their phones for longer. The sales slump has stoked concerns about whether the tech leader can continue to deliver profits at the level Wall Street has come to expect.

“China was a major letdown,” said Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. “Samsung and Huawei are much more competitive now than a year ago and the Chinese economy is not doing well at all.”

Moorhead said, however, that increased services revenue — which includes the App Store and iCloud — was a “very big bright spot for Apple.”

Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said Apple’s performance had topped his expectations in a quarter weighed down by tough foreign exchange rates and difficult comparisons with blockbuster iPhone 6 sales from the previous year.