Apple Forecasting Slower Holiday Sales Amid Samsung Gains
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Apple Inc.’s forecast for the slowest holiday sales growth in a half decade reflects how iPhones and iPads aren’t providing the growth surges they once did as competition accelerates in the saturated mobile market.
The trend was outlined yesterday when Cupertino, California-based Apple said revenue for the current quarter would be $55 billion to $58 billion, up 0.9 percent to 6.4 percent, from $54.5 billion a year earlier. That would be the slowest holiday-sales rise since 2008, when revenue jumped 6 percent. Profit will be about the same as last year, based on Apple’s predictions for gross margins.