Apple's iPhone sales miss estimates, down 12% versus last year

Apple reported earnings for fiscal third quarter Tuesday. The company reported iPhone revenue of $25.99 billion. Wall Street was looking for iPhone revenue of $26.31 billion, according to FactSet.

Apple's iPhone revenue for the quarter was down 12% year-over-year. Apple reported iPhone revenue of $29.47 billion in revenue on 41.3 million iPhones sold in the year-ago quarter.

CEO Tim Cook said on Apple's earnings call that he's "encouraged by in-store trade-in and finance programs" for the iPhone that customers are taking advantage of, and that the "active install base of iPhone reached an all-time high." Cook did not provide a specific number of iPhone users, however.

Apple no longer provides a breakout on iPhone unit sales, which means the revenue figures are the easiest way to get a glimpse at iPhone performance.

The iPhone has struggled in recent years as consumers have shown they're not as interested in spending upwards of $1,000 on a new phone, as as people continue to hold on to their phones for three or four years instead of upgrading every one or two years.

To try to offset this trend, Apple has put a larger focus on its services business, which is one area investors are hoping to see continued growth, particularly with new services such as Apple TV Channels and Apple News+, which are already available, and upcoming products such as the Apple Card and Apple TV+. The company has also offered better deals if customers trade in their old iPhone for a new one.

Correction: This story has been updated with the correct iPhone revenue for Apple's fiscal third-quarter 2019.

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