Start building your website with Squarespace today and get 10%-off your first purchase: https://squarespace.com/appleexplained _____________________ Apple recently reported their earnings for the first fiscal quarter of 2020, and the numbers surprised some analysts. Apple has had some of their most profitable quarters ever in the last year thanks to the sales success of the iPhone 11, but it’s also worth mentioning the struggles they’ve faced in the process. Because remember that the biggest Apple-related news story in 2016 was the decline of their hardware sales, especially when it came to the iPhone. After a decade of record-setting growth, demand for the device finally fell. And not just for one quarter, but three quarters in a row. That resulted in Apple’s revenue shrinking by almost ten percent, causing the company to post an annual revenue decline for the first time in fifteen years. So how did Apple go from shrinking iPhone sales in 2016, to surging sales in 2019? Well that’s exactly what we’re going to find out.