APPLE is gearing up to report its secondquarter results on Thursday amid concerns about falling demand for iPhones.

With shares down nearly nine per cent year-to-date and trading at a twelve-month low, Apple's stock closed at $169.30 on Friday and slipped further into the red in after-hours trading.

The company's market valuation of $2.5 trillion (£2 trillion) has raised eyebrows among analysts as it represents 25 times this year's forecasted profits.

For the second quarter, analysts have given a consensus estimate of sales of $89.8bn (£71bn), a year-on-year drop of 5.3 per cent. Earnings per share are projected to be $1.50, slightly lower than the previous year's $1.52.

Apple's woes have largely stemmed from stagnant earnings per share growth last year, a drop in iPhone sales, problems in China and ongoing regulatory pressures in Europe and the US.

While its services division, which includes the App Store, grew in the first quarter, the tech giant has been battling declining sales figures for its hardware products, such as wearables and iPhones.

Earlier this month, research firm increasingly worried about Apple's iPhone sales in China due to economic challenges and rising competition. In February, Apple reported $20.82bn in sales in China, below the expected $23.53bn (£18.6bn), according to LSEG data.

Regulators have also been coming down hard on the tech giant. The European Commission (EC) fined Apple €1.84bn (£1.57bn) in March for "abusing" its dominant position and favouring its own music streaming app over rivals.

International Data Corporation revealed that Samsung dethroned Apple's top spot in the smartphone market after the US tech giant unseated its rival just a few months ago.

Apple's iPhone sales sagged 10 per cent in the first three months of 2024 compared with the same period in 2023, with shipments falling to 50.1m, according to IDC's preliminary results.

These challenges have overshadowed record-breaking service revenues and earnings per share in the previous quarter.

Analysts are also

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