Apple is hoping its new iPhone 15 models will boost sales in the year-end holiday shopping season

San Francisco (AFP) - Apple on Thursday reported that sales fell for the fourth consecutive quarter when compared to the prior year, but profit rose on the back iPhones and services.

The tech giant said it made a profit of $23 billion on revenue of $89.5 billion, which was down slightly from the same period last year.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook said iPhone sales set a new record for its September quarter while money taken in from services hit an all-time high.

The company brought in $43.8 billion from iPhone sales while its services unit selling digital products such as Apple Music and iCloud brought in $22.3 billion, up 16 percent from a year ago.

“We now have our strongest lineup of products ever heading into the holiday season, including the iPhone 15 lineup,” Cook said in an earnings release.

But sales of smartphones continued to shrink globally in the recently-ended quarter as consumers watched spending, according to market tracker Counterpoint.

Smartphone sales fell 8 percent, marking the ninth consecutive quarter of decline in year-over-year comparisons, according to research by Counterpoint’s Market Pulse service.

Apple’s strong September sales along with buzz around the new iPhone 15 line-up were signs the current quarter may break the losing trend, according to the market tracker.

Sales of computers, tablets and connected accessories all fell year-on-year.

Apple’s Macs suffered in particular with sales plummeting by half, to $7.6 billion for the quarter, though this was partly due to a post-covid sales burst a year ago.

Apple unveiled its latest iPhone lineup in September, with its Lightning charger ports replaced on the newest models by a universal charger after a tussle with the European Union.

The European bloc is insisting that all phones and other small devices must be compatible with the USB-C charging cables from the end of next year, a move it says will reduce waste and save money for consumers.

The firm is also caught up in diplomatic turbulence between the United States and China.

Cook made a surprise visit to China last month, greeting gamers in the southwestern city of Chengdu as his company faces slumping phone sales in its biggest market.

Since the US tech giant first established a presence in China in 1993, Apple has grown into a major provider of smartphones, laptops and consumer electronics in the country.

During an earlier visit in March to Beijing, Cook said his company enjoyed a “symbiotic” relationship with China.