Apple’s iPhone Sales Decline, But Not As Much As Wall Street Feared

UPDATE, 3:13 PM: Apple CEO Tim Cook just added some fuel to the speculation that he still wants to become a power in the TV business — even after being thwarted by channel owners who want to keep the existing pay TV ecosystem intact.

People should think of his existing Apple TV streaming platform as “building the foundation for what we believe can be a broader business over time,” he told analysts in a conference call. “I don’t want to be more precise than that. But you shouldn’t look at what’s there today and think we’ve done what we want to do. We’ve built a a foundation that we can do something bigger off of.”

PREVIOUS, 1:57 PM: Apple didn’t have much to brag about in the June quarter, but the just released report for its fiscal Q3 surpassed investors’ low expectations — lifting shares about 5% in post market trading.

All eyes are on its cash cow, the iPhone. The company sold 40.4 million units in the quarter, down 15% vs last year — but topping expectations for about 38 million. iPhone revenues fell 23% to $24.0 billion.

Apple sold nearly 10 million iPads, down 9% — although revenues, at $4.9 billion, were up 7%. Mac sales dropped 11% to nearly 4.3 million with revenues down 13% to $5.2 billion.

All told, Apple generated nearly $7.8 billion in net income, down about 27%, on revenues of $42.4 billion, down 14.6%. That beat analyst expectations for $42.1 billion in revenues. Earnings at $1.42 a share topped forecasts for $1.38.

“We are pleased to report third quarter results that reflect stronger customer demand and business performance than we anticipated at the start of the quarter,” CEO Tim Cook says. “We had a very successful launch of iPhone SE and we’re thrilled by customers’ and developers’ response to software and services we previewed at WWDC in June.”

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