SAN FRANCISCO — Apple quickly recovered from a slump in iPhone sales in the summer quarter; This is an early sign that recent efforts to stimulate demand for the key product by infusing it with artificial intelligence are bearing fruit.

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 situations year-over-year declines in quarterly sales of the iPhone.

The iPhone boost helped Apple deliver total quarterly revenue and profit that beat analyst estimates, excluding a one-time charge of $10.2 billion, which impressed investors. a recent European Union court decision This left the Cupertino, California, company facing a large back tax bill.

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 and were disappointed by Apple’s forecast, which implied its revenue for the October-December quarter, which covers the holiday shopping season, might not grow as strongly as analysts predicted. Apple’s stock price fell nearly 2% in extended trading on Thursday, with shares hovering around $221; This is well below the peak of around $237 reached in mid-October.

The latest quarterly results cover the first few days when consumers were able to purchase a product. new iPhone 16 series It featured four different models designed to address 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 AI from rivals such as: SAMSUNG And Google This gives us a head start in bringing the technology to smartphones.

Although the iPhone 16 was designed specifically with artificial intelligence in mind, this technology was not available until Apple launched it. a free software update earlier this week has enabled its 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. More languages

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.

“We believe this is a compelling reason to upgrade,” Cook said. But Investing.com analyst Thomas Monteiro believes iPhone sales would grow faster anyway if consumers became enamored with Apple’s AI technology, increasing pressure on the company to “do a better job overall to impress the public.”