Apple to slash iPhone prices in some markets to boost sales

Apple CEO Tim Cook has hinted that the company might slash the prices of its iPhones in some markets to boost the sales. The news came just after Apple announced its revenue of 51.9 billion for the holiday quarter, witnessing a 15 percent year-on-year decline.

The Cupertino-based company is said to lower the price of its iPhones because the strong dollar made the devices heftier when converting to local currencies, Cook told Reuters.

"As we've gotten into January and assessed the macroeconomic condition in some of those markets, we've decided to go back to more commensurate with what our local prices were a year ago in hopes of helping the sales in those areas," said Tim Cook.

Apple announced its total revenue of 84.3 billion for the quarter ending December 29, 2018 - a decline of 5 percent from the same quarter a year earlier. This was also the company's first decline in both revenue and profit in more than a decade.

On the brighter side, Apple's quarterly results showed a 19-percent year-on-year rise for revenue from all products and services excluding the iPhones. Services revenue includes the App Store and Apple Music reached their all-time high of $10.9 billion, surging 19 percent over last year.

Additionally, the Mac PCs and Apple Watch increased by 9 percent, with sales of home devices and accessories rising by 33 percent, Apple said. The new iPad lineup launched in 2018 also helped increase the sales by 17 percent.