According to Cailian News, Apple released its financial report for the third quarter of fiscal year 2024 (the second quarter of the natural year) on Thursday (August 1st), Eastern Time. The financial report shows that in the third fiscal quarter ending June 29, Apple’s overall sales increased by 5% to US$85.8 billion, higher than analysts’ expectations of US$84.5 billion; but the Chinese market was disappointing, with sales in Greater China falling 6.5% to US$14.7 billion, lower than the market expectation of US$15.3 billion. Data from Visible Alpha shows that although China’s market performance has improved compared to the 8.1% decline in the previous quarter, the decline exceeded analysts’ expectations of a 2.4% decline. Apple is under pressure in the Chinese market due to the launch of competing products by local competitors such as Huawei.
It is worth noting that even before Apple’s second quarter results were released, some institutions pointed out that Apple’s iPhone sales may not be performing well. As Jefferies previously pointed out, China’s smartphone shipments in June increased by 14% year-on-year and decreased by 17% month-on-month. This data was lower than the sales forecast for the first time this year, indicating that inventory levels are high. iPhone shipments fell 43% month-on-month, possibly due to high inventory. Based on sales in the past six months, the bank expects the Android supply chain to outperform the iPhone supply chain in the third quarter.
