Apple’s Q3 2023 earnings name reported that its iPhone division generated $39.67 billion for the three-month interval, however that quantity was 2 % decrease in comparison with the identical quarter a 12 months in the past. Whereas that’s nonetheless an abnormally massive chunk of change, it represents a development that even the know-how big has seen and has no selection however to confess; the U.S. smartphone market has been in decline, and it has been this manner for some time. Naturally, it will immediate the agency to cut back its dependency on its greatest money cow, however that’s simpler mentioned than carried out.

Apple’s admission of the U.S. smartphone market comes simply weeks earlier than the iPhone 15 launch, which is alleged to reach with extra unique options

For these unaware, the U.S. smartphone market is Apple’s most important focus as a result of nearly all of the income for the corporate comes from this area. With this realization, the corporate will probably execute a change in technique that includes both bettering its different revenue-generating segments or increasing closely in different markets aside from the U.S. In Mark Gurman’s ‘Energy On’ e-newsletter, the Bloomberg reporter states that the decline of the U.S. smartphone market presents a problem for the iPhone 15 collection, which is alleged to reach with a number of unique options, significantly the ‘Professional’ fashions.

“After reporting sluggish iPhone gross sales on Thursday, sending Apple inventory sliding, the corporate disclosed that “the smartphone market has been in a decline for the final couple of quarters in america.”

That presents a problem for the following iPhone, which guarantees to be the most important replace to the machine in three years. When Apple rolls out main cellphone overhauls — prefer it did with the iPhone 6 in 2014, iPhone X in 2017 and iPhone 12 in 2020 — the brand new options often promote themselves. In these earlier examples, the corporate kicked off main improve cycles by providing greater screens, revamped designs (with no dwelling button within the case of the X mannequin) and 5G connections.”

Happily, Apple’s vacation quarter is across the nook, and assuming that the corporate doesn’t run into the identical manufacturing issues that plagued the iPhone 14 Professional and iPhone 14 Professional Max shipments final 12 months, its This fall 2023 earnings name may challenge some favorable information for the Cupertino big. Nonetheless, it ought to be famous that the iPhone 15 Professional and iPhone 15 Professional Max are rumored to obtain a worth hike later this 12 months, as that’s what clients should pay to expertise the newest and biggest from the corporate.

Within the U.S., the iPhone 15 Professional might begin from $1,099 for the bottom mannequin as a substitute of $999, and this alteration may affect shipments afterward. Happily, there’s a sliver of hope, as, through the Q3 2023 earnings name, Apple reported that its ‘Companies’ enterprise made $21.21 billion in income, making it 26 % of the agency’s $81.8 billion complete, so a small chunk of its focus might be diverted there. The iPhone 15 launch is alleged to happen in the midst of September, so we’ll know in a couple of months on how Apple carried out.