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Tim Cook attributes iPhone sales miss on China COVID lockdowns & macroeconomic headwinds

Tim Cook provided some possible causes for this quarter's disappointing iPhone sales.

Donovan Erskine

February 2, 2023 2:42 PM

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Apple’s Q1 2023 earnings report saw some less-than-ideal numbers for the world’s biggest company. While revenue numbers were less than what financial analysts were expecting, it was specifically iPhone sales that disappointed. Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke to these numbers, blaming the performance on COVID lockdowns in China and economic headwinds.

Apple’s Q1 2023 earnings report was released on February 2, 2023. In the report, Apple shares that it made $65.8 billion in revenue from iPhone sales in the quarter. This not only represents an eight percent decrease from the previous year, but it also fails to meet the financial analyst's expectations of $68.3 billion. It’s rare for Apple to miss on profit estimations, and CEO Tim Cook tried to provide some additional context in an interview with Reuters.

Cook cited production shortages at Apple’s Chinese factory, which were caused by COVID lockdowns in the region last year. "When things started to reopen in December (in China), we did see an increase in traffic to our stores as compared to November and an increase in demand as December rolled around," he explained. The CEO also discussed the 8 percent decrease in iPhone sales from the previous year. "I would point out that 8 percent is still a very severe headwind," he said in the interview. "I wouldn't want to underestimate that. We would have grown on a constant currency basis."

The iPhone failing to meet sales is an abnormality for Apple, which usually has little issue moving units of its flagship product. If you want to learn more about the findings in Apple’s Q1 2023 earnings report, we’ve got that for you. Stick with Shacknews for all of your market news as the biggest companies in tech and entertainment report earnings results.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_