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Apple quickly recovered from a slump in iPhone sales in the summer quarter; It’s an early sign that recent efforts to stimulate demand for the key product with an AI vaccine are paying off.

According to Apple’s fourth-quarter financial report published on Thursday, iPhone sales reached $46.22 billion in the July-September period, up 6% compared to the same period last year. This development reversed two consecutive year-over-year declines in iPhone quarterly sales.

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The iPhone boost comes as Apple’s total quarterly revenue and profits beat analyst estimates, which guided investors, excluding a one-time charge of $10.2 billion to account for a recent European Union court ruling that left the Cupertino, Calif.-based company with a huge bill. helped him achieve it. for back taxes.

Apple earned $14.74 billion, or 97 cents per share, down 36% from the same period last year. Apple said it would have earned $1.64 per share without the one-time tax cut, according to FactSet Research; This figure exceeded the $1.60 per share predicted by analysts. Revenue increased 6% from last year to $94.93 billion; That’s about $400 million more than analysts expected.

But investors were clearly hoping for a better quarter. Apple’s stock price fell slightly in extended trading after the numbers were released.

The results capture the first few days that consumers have been able to purchase a new iPhone 16 lineup that includes four different models designed to handle a variety of AI wizardry that the company markets as “Apple Intelligence.” The branding is part of Apple’s effort to differentiate its approach to artificial intelligence from rivals such as Samsung and Google, which are head-starts in bringing the technology to smartphones.

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While the iPhone 16 was designed specifically with AI in mind, the technology wasn’t available until Apple released a free software update earlier this week that enabled the first tech tricks, including a feature designed to make its virtual assistant Siri smarter. , more versatile and more colorful. And these improvements are only available in the US for now.

“This is just the beginning of what we believe generative AI can do,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told analysts on Thursday’s conference call.

Cook said he plans to expand AI iPhone features to other countries in December, as well as roll out other software updates that will add even more technology to the iPhone 16 and two higher-end iPhone 15 models also equipped with proprietary AI technology. Slick new features require computer chips. The December expansion will include the option to connect to OpenAI’s ChatGPT to leverage technology that Apple doesn’t build on its own.

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Investors believe that as Apple’s AI becomes more widely available, it will encourage hundreds of millions of consumers using older iPhones to upgrade to newer models to get the latest technology.

Although iPhone sales have rebounded, another key part of Apple’s operations, its services division, hasn’t fared as well as analysts expected amid regulatory efforts in Europe and the United States to force the company to allow more payment options in its app store. This pressure threatens to undermine Apple’s lucrative fee system, which allows it to collect only 15 percent to 30 percent commission on most digital commerce transactions conducted on its iPhone apps.

Revenue from Apple’s services division rose 12% from a year ago to nearly $25 billion, but that figure was about $200 million below analyst estimates.

Apple’s revenue was also down slightly from a year ago in China, where the company faces stiffer competition in the smartphone market.

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