APPLE INC reported a rare miss in quarterly revenue that fell short of Wall Street’s estimates on lower than expected sales of its flagship iPhones, sending its shares down 5 per cent.

Apple sold 26 million iPhones during the quarter ending June 30th compared to an expected 28 million to 29 million as buyers held off ahead of the latest version of the smartphone, which will be released in autumn.

By contrast, the company sold 35.1 million iPhones in the March quarter.

The world’s largest technology company said that fiscal third-quarter revenue rose to $35 billion (€29 billion), much lower than the average analyst estimate of $37.22 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

Gross margin for the quarter was 42.8 per cent, also lower than the expected 43.68 per cent.

Few were expecting Apple to deliver a blowout quarter as they remembered that chatter over the launch of a new iPhone last year caused Apple to miss quarterly expectations in autumn – the first time in years.

The economic slowdown in Europe and China also made many investors nervous.– (Reuters)