Apple’s plan to integrate generative AI into its iPhones to boost sales, especially in China, will be closely watched on Thursday as the tech giant prepares to announce its largest quarterly revenue decline in over a year.
Analysts foresee a 10.4% decrease in iPhone sales, which make up about half of Apple’s revenue, for the first quarter of 2024. This projected drop would be the steepest in over three years.
Discussions with OpenAI and Google to integrate AI features into the iPhone are underway, potentially unveiled at the annual developer conference in June.
Thursday’s earnings report will also be monitored for updates on Apple’s stock buyback plan and the performance of Vision Pro, the company’s major product release in February.
Soft demand extends to other hardware segments, with anticipated declines of 11.4% for iPads and 4.3% for Macs in the March quarter.
An upcoming Apple event is expected to unveil a revamped iPad lineup and updates to every Mac model with faster, AI-focused M4 processors.
Conversely, the services business, including the App Store and subscription services like Apple TV, is expected to remain strong with an anticipated revenue growth of 7.7%.
Apple shares closed down 0.6% at $169.30 on Wednesday.
