Apple and Google revealed lower-than-expected sales and earnings for the final three months of 2022, while Amazon warned of uncertainty in the months ahead.
Apple, the world’s most valuable company in terms of market capitalization, blamed decreasing iPhone sales on production hiccups in China.
Apple’s revenue for the three months ending December was $117.1 billion, a 5.4 percent decrease from the previous year. Profit after tax was $30 billion, although both sales and profit were lower than expected by experts.
China is Apple’s primary production center, and the rigorous limitations enforced in accordance with Beijing’s zero-COVID policy, which closed down several phone-making plants, severely hampered the company’s ability to supply shipments for the crucial year-end Christmas season.
China has recently softened its policies, although concern about the global economy remains.
