Apple crunched as iPhone's quarterly sales fall for first time

(ShareCast News) - Apple lost a titanic $46bn in market value as its shares fell 8% in after-hours trading as the tech company confirmed the iPhone's first ever quarterly decline in sales and so missed analysts' expectations for sales and earnings.Sales of iPhones sank 16% to 51.2m in the three months to March 26 the first fall since it was launched in 2007, leading to revenues at the world's most valuable company sliding 13% to $50.56bn and profits plummeting 22% to $10.5bn.The company's guidance for the current quarter was that revenue would also fall far short of expectations.Apple chief executive Tim Cook insisted that the global smartphone market had not reached an inflection point but rather tar the slowdown in the smartphone market had stemmed from temporary macroeconomic weakness."This too shall pass," Cook said on an analyst conference call, adding that Apple was confident "that the market, and particularly us, will grow again".The CEO said sales had also suffered as fewer existing customers were upgrading because the iPhone 6 was so popular, and he maintained newcomers to the smartphone market were still choosing Apple in large numbers.And Apple said more Android users switched to iPhones in the six months since October than any previous half-year period.Shares in FTSE 100 semiconductor supplier ARM Holdings, for which Apple is a key customer, could be under the cosh on Wednesday, while other companies with a connection to the US tech colossus include Imagination Technologies and Laird.