3 Reasons Why Apple's CEO Is Not Worried About Falling iPhone Sales

Apple stock is under considerable selling pressure lately. Shares of the tech juggernaut are down by more than 28% in the last year due to falling revenue in the very-important iPhone segment. However, CEO Tim Cook believes that the decline in iPhone sales is only a short-term problem.

The big question

Nearly 65% of total Apple revenue comes from the iPhone segment, so the product is absolutely crucial in terms of overall financial performance. Apple registered a 16% decline in iPhone unit sales during the quarter ended in March, and total company-level revenue fell 13% versus the same quarter in 2015.

But that's old news for investors at this stage. The big question to consider is whether the decline is only temporary, or if Apple is on a long-term decline due to languishing iPhone demand in the years ahead.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is an interested party in this discussion, so investors need to take some distance when analyzing his point of view. Nevertheless, Mr. Cook has some strong arguments to believe that the iPhone will continue growing in the future. Here are his own words, from Apple's last earnings conference call:

Renewals

The iPhone 6 was an explosive success for Apple in 2015. Many customers were eagerly waiting for a new iPhone with a larger screen, so sales skyrocketed. The iPhone 6s is not a big game changer in comparison to previous models, and this is making comparisons remarkably challenging in 2016.

The company sold 61.2 million devices during the quarter ended in March of 2015, a huge increase of 40% versus the same quarter in 2014. Unit sales during the quarter ended in March of 2016 amounted to almost 51.2 million. The number is down by 16% versus the same quarter in 2015, but still up by 17% versus 2014 levels.

This is important to consider because it indicates that the decline in iPhone sales this year could be mostly due to tough comparisons against 2015 levels. Besides, Apple customers are remarkably loyal to the brand, and a gargantuan installed based bodes well in terms of renewals going forward.

According to Tim Cook:

Switchers from Android

According to IDC numbers, Apple has a global market share of 15.2%, while a huge 82.6% of all smartphones around the world work with Android. This means that, even if overall industry growth is slowing down, Apple still has a lot of room to steal customers away from the competition. Tim Cook said in the last conference call that Apple is attracting record amounts of switchers from Android and other platforms, and this could be an interesting growth driver going forward.

Growing smartphone penetration

The smartphone market in the U.S. and other developed countries is highly saturated, but things are remarkably different in emerging markets, where smartphone penetration levels are still quite low. Income levels in many of these countries are also much lower, so it's hard to tell what levels of market share Apple can obtain in these markets over the middle term. However, that's no reason to discard growth opportunities due to increasing smartphone penetration in emerging markets.

In fact, Apple has recently launched its new iPhone SE model, which sells for a comparatively low starting price of $399 versus a much-higher starting price of $649 for the iPhone 6s. This device seems to be particularly targeted toward capitalizing on growth opportunities in emerging markets.

According to Tim Cook, growing smartphone penetration should generate considerable opportunities for expansion in key emerging markets such as India.

Only time will tell for certain if Mr. Cook is right or wrong about growth prospects in the iPhone segment. However, between first-time smartphone buyers, customers switching away from other platforms, and renewal sales to current iPhone users, it looks like Apple's iconic product still has room for growth.

The article 3 Reasons Why Apple's CEO Is Not Worried About Falling iPhone Sales originally appeared on Fool.com.

Andrs Cardenal owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2018 $90 calls on Apple and short January 2018 $95 calls on Apple. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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