Apple ends yearlong sales slump with slight revenue rise in holiday-season period but stock slips
Associated PressSAN FRANCISCO — Apple snapped out of a yearlong sales funk during its holiday-season quarter, propelled by solid demand for the latest model of its iPhone and still-robust growth in a services division facing legal threats that could undermine its prospects. The modest revenue growth announced Thursday as part of Apple’s October-December results ended four consecutive quarters of year-over-year sales declines. Apple is hoping to shift the narrative back in its favor with Friday’s release of its Vision Pro headset that transports users into a hybrid of physical and digital environments — a combination the company is promoting as “spatial computing.” But the first version of the Vision Pro will cost $3,500 — a lofty price tag analysts expect to constrain demand this year. Apple’s services division, which is tied largely to the iPhone, posted an 11% rise in revenue from the previous year to $23.12 billion. Apple’s agreement to make Google the default search engine on the iPhone and Safari browser — a deal that brings in an estimated $15 billion to $20 billion annually — is the focal point of antitrust case brought by the U.S. Justice Department that will shift into its final phase in May.