SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple overcame a recent slump in iPhone sales in the summer quarter. It’s an early sign that recent efforts to revive demand for its flagship artificial intelligence product are paying off.

According to Apple’s fourth-quarter financial report released Thursday, iPhone sales totaled $46.22 billion in the July-September period, up 6% from the same period last year. This improvement was reversed twice in a row Year-on-year declines in quarterly iPhone sales.

The iPhone boost helped Apple post overall quarterly revenue and profit that beat forecasts from analysts influencing investors, excluding a one-time charge of $10.2 billion a recent decision by a court of the European Union This burdened the Cupertino, California-based company with a huge tax penalty.

Apple earned $14.74 billion, or 97 cents per share, a 36% decline from the same period last year. Without the one-time tax hit, Apple would have earned $1.64 per share, according to FactSet Research – more than the $1.60 per share forecast by analysts. Revenue rose 6% from a year earlier to $94.93 billion, about $400 million more than analysts had forecast.

But investors were clearly hoping for an even better quarter and appeared disappointed by an Apple forecast that suggested sales for the October-December quarter, which covers the holiday shopping season, might not grow as much as expected Analysts expected. Apple’s stock price fell about 2% in extended trading on Thursday, leaving shares trading at around $221 – well below their peak of about $237 reached in mid-October.

The latest quarterly results captured the first few days consumers could purchase a product new iPhone 16 series This included four different models designed for a variety of AI wizardry, which the company markets as “Apple Intelligence.” The branding is part of Apple’s efforts to differentiate its AI approach from competitors such as B. to take off Samsung And Google This gave us a head start in introducing the technology to smartphones.

Although the iPhone 16 was designed specifically for AI, the technology didn’t become available until Apple released it a free software update earlier this week which activated its first technological tricks, including a feature intended to make its virtual assistant Siri smarter, more versatile and more colorful. And these improvements are currently only available in the US.

“This is just the beginning of what we think generative AI can do,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told analysts during a conference call Thursday.

Cook said he plans to expand the AI ​​iPhone features to other countries in December and roll out more software updates that will integrate even more technology into the iPhone 16 and two high-end iPhone 15 models that also come with the Special are equipped with computer chips that are required for the sophisticated new functions. The December expansion will include an option to connect to OpenAI’s ChatGPT to leverage technologies that Apple doesn’t develop itself. Other languages

Investors are betting that the increasing adoption of Apple’s AI will prompt hundreds of millions of consumers using older iPhones to upgrade to newer models to get their hands on the latest technology.

“We believe this is a compelling reason to upgrade,” Cook said. But Investing.com analyst Thomas Monteiro believes iPhone sales would already be accelerating more quickly if consumers were excited about Apple’s AI technology, increasing pressure on the company to “do a better job overall.” to impress the public.”