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　　iPhone Sales Fall, Ending Apple's Record Growth

　　How long have you had your Apple iPhone orcomputer? If you have not replaced that product inthe last two or three years, you may be part of thereason for Apple's falling sales numbers.

　　Apple is the world's most valuable company. Itsyearly growth trend started in the early 2000s, with exciting new computers and a portablemusic player known as the iPod.

　　The company continued to grow, with the introduction of the iPhone smartphone. Then, itintroduced the iPad tablet.

　　Sales of Apple products grew every year for 51 straight quarters. That all changed on Tuesday,when the company reported a drop in sales. Sales for the first quarter of 2016 dropped 13percent.

　　Sales dropped to $50.6 billion from $58 billion during the same quarter in 2015.

　　The news caused Apple's stock to drop, too. The company's shares were down by about 8percent in after-hours trading.

　　Slow growth in China

　　Some experts say the struggling Chinese economy may be to blame for Apple's weaker sales.The company's report shows sales were down in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong by a combined26 percent. In the past, Apple was able to depend on sales growth in those markets.

　　Apple's Chief Executive, Tim Cook, says the smartphone market is not growing because of theslowing economies in some countries.

　　But other experts say Apple is no longer regularly producing exciting products. People whobought new Apple laptops or smartphones in the last two or three years do not feel like theyneed to buy the latest products.

　　Rob Pegoraro is a technology writer for USA Today and Yahoo. He says he still likes to use theApple products he owns but, there is nothing "revolutionary" right now.

　　"You got a lot of people upgrading to the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 plus. The 6s and the 6sPlus, they're better, but as the names would suggest, they're not exactly revolutionary.Normal people don't buy new phones every year. "

　　Apple still makes a lot of money

　　Pegoraro also says that Apple did not really have a bad quarter. The company still makes a lotof money from the products it sells. It is just not growing anymore.

　　"Their gross margin was 39.4 percent compared to 40.8 percent. I struggle to think of howmany other industries or companies could pull down those kind of profit margins for over adecade straight."

　　Pegoraro says there is not much more room for improvement in the products Apple makes.For example, the company could create an iPhone with a battery that lasts five days. "Thatwould be amazing, but you're running into the laws of physics there," Pegoraro says.

　　The Associated Press news agency reports that there are still parts of Apple's business that aregrowing. For example, there are 500 million iPhones in use. Those phones need cloud storage,apps and music. That part of the company is worth $6 billion per quarter now, and that is anincrease of 20 percent over the same period last year.

　　There are also concerns that the Apple Watch, which came out a year ago, did not have bettersales. But the watch actually sold more than twice as many units in its first year compared tothe first iPhone in 2007.

　　Right now people can only guess what is next for Apple. Some think the company will make anelectric car. It is building a new headquarters that has been described as a spaceship or flyingsaucer by some observers.

　　Pegoraro warns to not underestimate Apple just because of this small drop in sales.

　　"This company, their problem is they made a lot of money, just not more money than theymade the last quarter. You know, if that's failure, then I should only hope to be just as much ofa disaster!"

　　I'm Dan Friedell.