Apple on Thursday reported sales and profit that beat Wall Street estimates, powered by growth in its iPhone business. But China sales missed analysts' targets, according to Reuters.

"The 2% rise in overall fiscal first-quarter sales for the company ended four straight quarters of sales declines on the strength of its iPhone 15 lineup, which includes devices capable of capturing three-dimensional video for the Vision Pro headset being released this week. Apple's total installed base of devices hit 2.2 billion, up from 2 billion a year ago.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook told Reuters in an interview: "We did feel good about the plus 6% (revenue growth) for iPhone. We had particularly strong double-digit growth on iPhone in emerging markets outside of China. The iPhone is doing well in those markets."

He added: "China is the most competitive smartphone market in the world, and that hasn't changed."

For its fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 30, Apple reported sales of $119.58 billion and profit of $2.18 per share, both above analyst expectations of $117.91 billion and $2.10 per share, according to data from LSEG.

Sales of iPhones hit $69.70 billion, growing 6% to beat analyst expectations of $67.82 billion, according to LSEG data.

Apple said sales in China were $20.82 billion, missing analyst estimates of $23.53 billion, according to LSEG data.

Cook told Reuters that, when accounting for currency exchange rates, iPhone sales in mainland China were down "mid-single digits" in the quarter but said the company's installed base of iPhones in China is at an all-time high.

Counterpoint Research reported China iPhone unit shipments fell during the quarter, with Chinese consumers looking to novel folding phones and homegrown rival Huawei, which re-entered the market with a flagship phone powered by a Chinese-made chip." Yet in context, IDC's report presented a chart where Apple remained the number one smartphone in Mainland China in calendar Q4, 2023 (Apple's fiscal Q1 2024). 

(Click on chart to Enlarge)

Reuters further reported that "In the rest of Asia beyond China and Japan, Apple's sales hit $10.16 billion, above analyst estimates of $9.75 billion, according to LSEG data. Cook said that iPhone sales hit an all-time high in South Korea, home to Apple's longtime rival Samsung Electronics.

The biggest growth area for Apple during its fiscal first quarter was its services business, which includes the Apple TV+ service as well as music, iCloud storage and the App Store, and which rose 11% to $23.12 billion in sales. The results were slightly below analyst expectations of $23.35 billion, according to LSEG data.

Apple's first-quarter Mac sales were up slightly to $7.78 billion, in line with analyst expectations of $7.73 billion, according to LSEG data. Sales of iPads were down 25% to $7.02 billion, missing expectations of $7.33 billion, according to LSEG data.

Apple's wearables segment, which includes its AirPods and Apple Watch sales, fell to $11.95 billion after company executives had warned of weak demand. The results were just above expectations of $11.56 billion, according to LSEG data."  For more, read the full Reuters report.