APPLE Inc. raised the specter of the end of a technological era after reporting Tuesday the slowest growth sales ever of its market-leading, life-changing iPhone and warning it expects worse to come.

    The U.S. technology colossus expects to see its first decline in iPhone sales in the current quarter, when it will be compared with three months of blockbuster sales in the same period last year.

    “We do think that iPhone units will decline in the quarter,” Apple chief executive Tim Cook said during an earnings call with analysts.

    But Apple, which Tuesday posted record quarterly profit despite the iPhone faltering for the first time since it was launched in 2007, remains optimistic about the overall smartphone market.

    Apple plans to continue investing in smartphones despite economic woes dragging on many countries and a strong U.S. dollar eating into its revenue, according to Cook.

    “There are still a lot of people in the world who will buy smartphones and we ought to be able to win over our fair share of those,” Cook said.

    Net income for the quarter ending Dec. 26 was 2 percent higher than the same period a year earlier at US$18.4 billion, while revenue of US$75.9 billion set another record for the company, also edging up 2 percent.

    The results were largely in line with expectations that sales of iPhones — the driver of two-thirds of Apple revenue — had peaked and that the company would need to find new sources of growth.

    Apple shares have slid 20 percent since last year on these concerns. In after-market trade Tuesday, the stock was down more than 2 percent at US$97.76.

    “Our team delivered Apple’s biggest quarter ever, thanks to the world’s most innovative products and all-time record sales of iPhone, Apple Watch and Apple TV,” Cook said.

    “The growth of our services business accelerated during the quarter to produce record results, and our installed base recently crossed a major milestone of one billion active devices.”

    Apple reported that, overall, a billion iPhones, iPads, Macintosh computers, iPod touch devices, Apple TV units, and Apple Watch wearable computers had “engaged” with its services in the past three months.

    In the fiscal quarter, Apple sold 74.8 million iPhones — a record, but only fractionally higher than the 74.5 million in the same period last year and the slowest growth since 2007. (SD-Agencies)