Apple repurchases $110B shares despite lower iPhone sales

Logo of Apple

Apple disclosed on May 2 better-than-expected profits for Q1 2024, but its revenues decreased due hurt by lower iPhone sales.

The company stated in a statement that its board of directors approved a $110 billion share buyback, the largest in the company's history, representing a 22% increase over last year's program. It will also pay dividends of $0.25, an increase of one cent.

Earnings per share (EPS) reached $1.53 in the last quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 in a survey conducted by the London Stock Exchange Group, while Apple recorded revenues of $90.75 billion (a decrease of 4% year-on-year) compared to the expected $90.01 billion.

The company's revenues from iPhones stood at $45.96 billion compared to the expected $46 billion, from Macs $7.5 billion compared to the expected $6.86 billion, and from iPads $5.6 billion compared to the expected $5.91 billion.

Revenue from other products amounted to $7.9 billion compared to the expected $8.08 billion, and the services business recorded revenues of $23.9 billion, better than the expected $23.27 billion, and the company achieved a gross margin of 46.6%, as expected.

The company stated that iPhone sales decreased by approximately 10%, indicating weak demand for its current generation of smartphones, which were released in September.

Sales in China, Apple's third-largest market, decreased by 8% to $17.8 billion in revenue, which was much better than expectations of only $15.25 billion.

The company's stock rose by 6.25% after trading hours to $183.85, at exactly 11:46 PM KSA Time, after ending Thursday's session up by 2.20%.