Apple tunes out trade war as new AirPods, services lift holiday outlook
- Apple forecast sales for crucial holiday shopping quarter ahead of Wall Street expectations
- Apple quarterly sales for its Greater China region dropped 2.4 per cent
Apple Inc on Wednesday forecast sales for the crucial holiday shopping quarter ahead of Wall Street expectations, with Chief Executive Tim Cook seeing strong sales of the wearables such as the noise-cancelling AirPods Pro and hoping for a US-China trade deal by year-end.
Cook wants to wean Apple off stagnating iPhone sales that make up over half its revenue and switch to generating income from services and wearables. Cook is implementing the strategy while also shepherding Apple through a trade dispute between two of its most important markets, the United States and China.
Apple said it expects $85.5 billion to $89.5 billion in sales for its fiscal first quarter that ends in December, with a midpoint of $87.5 billion that is above analyst expectations of $86.9 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Apple shares rose about 2% to $247.50 in after-hours trading on the news.
In an interview with Reuters, Cook said he anticipated strong sales of services and wearables, as well “a very, very good start” for sales of the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max released last month. Cook said the forecast also reflects the company’s belief that the United States and China will resolve their trade dispute.