Apple's Profit Slips for the First Time After a Decade of Growth

Record iPhone sales and better-than-expected revenue of $37.47 billion weren't enough to keep Apple's profit for the fiscal year from slipping for the first time in more than a decade. The company's net income for the twelve months ending on September 28 dropped 11 percent to $37.04 billion.

While that is still an astonishingly good result, it shows that there is a natural ceiling to what a company can achieve. Apple's margins have recently declined as a consequence of higher production and marketing costs on the one hand and increasingly strong competition from companies such as Samsung on the other hand. Moreover, the company's revenue growth has come down to an earthly level, as smartphone and tablet markets are becoming more saturated and Apple enthusiasts are kept waiting for a new revolutionary product.