Same was true for the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6, iPhone 5S, iPhone 5, etc. Yet this is the first time in 15 years Apple revenues have shrunk year over year.
That means something.
That means something.
In 2001, Apple had revenues of $5.3 billion and a net loss of $25 million.
2014, revenues of $182.8 billion with $39.5 billion in profit.
2015, revenues of $233.7 billion with $53.4 billion in profit.
2016, revenues of $215.6 billion with $45.7 billion in profit.
Apple's 2016 revenues shrunk in comparison to a peak year but it's still their 2nd best showing ever.
Something is very odd with their China business.
2015-2016 has been really tough on most of Apple's smartphone competitors, it's been a moving window and it affected some sooner than Apple, but most of the incumbents have suffered.
Xiaomi's revenue was down 38% over the summer.
Samsung is doing better compared to 2015 which was a down year, but who knows what's going to happen after the Note 7 fiasco.
Lenovo was down 19% in the first half of 2016.
Huawei, Oppo and Vivo have done well in terms of capturing market share, but their earnings have been extremely dismal in comparison to Apple's, each of their smartphone revenues is closer to Apple's profit than its revenue numbers.
Is the goal of growth to make money or to own marketshare?
That's been one of the long running questions but if you look at who is in the top 5 smartphone companies over the last 5-7 years, Apple and Samsung are pretty much the only two that have stuck around, so long-term seeking of marketshare in the absence of profits hasn't seemed to pay off all that well.
I define Apple's market more broadly as internet connected devices, which is much larger and poised to grow much faster than smartphones alone. That Apple's revenue is declining given this broad definition of their market is an even worse sign.