Apple's plan to add generative AI to its iPhones and revive sagging sales in the crucial Chinese market will be in focus today, when the tech giant is expected to report its biggest quarterly revenue decline in more than a year.
Long considered a must-own stock on Wall Street, Apple shares have underperformed other Big Tech companies in recent months, falling more than 10 percent year to date as fears mount about its slow roll out of AI services and as a resurgent Huawei takes market share in China.
Analysts on average see iPhone sales, which account for about half of Apple's revenue, falling 10.4 percent in the first three months of 2024, according to LSEG. That drop would be the steepest in more than three years.
Analysts estimate Apple's total revenue declined 5 percent in its second quarter, which included January through March. That would be Apple's biggest revenue decline since the December-quarter of 2022, when revenue fell 5.5 percent.
Earlier this year, Apple lost the crown as the world's most valuable company to Microsoft, and its market value now stands at US$2.68 trillion (HK$20.9 trillion) after the decline in its share price in 2024.
Weak revenue and falling shares have put pressure on Apple to spruce up its flagship device after years without major upgrades. The company is in talks with OpenAI and Alphabet-owned Google to add genAI features for the iPhone that could be unveiled in June.
