Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock rose 6.51% (As on May 3, 11:24:06 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company announced a $110 billion buyback, the largest in the company’s history and a smaller-than-expected decline in global sales. Apple’s iPhone sales fell nearly 10% to $45.96 billion, suggesting weak demand for the current generation of smartphones that were launched in September last year. iPad sales fell 17% to $5.6 billion, below analyst expectations of $5.91 billion. Apple is likely to announce new iPads on May 7. Slowing sales in China were a big concern for Apple’s investors and data from Counterpoint Research showed that sales of the iPhone had declined by 19% in the January-March period of 2024, the worst since 2020. iPhone shipments had declined 10% worldwide during the quarter.

Moreover, Apple’s services segment sales, which also represents Apple Music and TV offerings, rose to $23.87 billion, above analyst expectations of $23.27 billion, according to LSEG data. In the company’s wearables segment, which represents sales of Apple Watches and AirPods headphones, sales fell to $7.91 billion, compared with analyst estimates of $8.08 billion, according to LSEG data. Mac sales in the fiscal second quarter grew to $7.5 billion, compared with estimates of $6.86 billion.

AAPL in the first quarter of FY 24 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of $1.53, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of $1.50. The company had reported 4.3 percent fall in the adjusted revenue growth to $90.8 billion in the first quarter of FY 24, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $90.3 billion. Sales in the quarter gone by also come on a high base, when the company had realised as much as $5 billion in delayed iPhone 14 sales from supply chain issues due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, there are talks of the company announcing a foray into Generative AI. CEO Cook is expected to lay out Apple’s AI strategy at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. The Vision Pro, which the company launched in February this year is off to a slow start and could take years for it to meaningfully contribute.

For Apple’s current quarter, the iPhone maker expects “to grow low-single digits” in overall revenue. Wall Street expected 1.33% revenue growth to $82.89 billion.  Apple expects current-quarter services and iPad revenue to grow by double digits. It expects gross margins of between 45.5% and 46.5% for the fiscal third quarter.