Apple Stock Plunges 7% After Disappointing Earnings Report

Apple's stock price plummeted by 7% on Friday after the company's third-quarter earnings report. The iPhone maker beat analysts' expectations for revenue, with $109.4 billion in sales - a 16% increase from last year. However, Apple's Greater China revenue fell short of estimates at $18.8 billion.

The Services segment, which includes the App Store, iCloud, and Apple Music subscriptions, brought in $30.7 billion, missing analyst expectations by $600 million. Apple's fourth-quarter sales forecast also disappointed investors, with a predicted 9% to 11% growth rate - below the consensus estimate of 12.1%.

CEO Tim Cook attributed the company's costs rising due to memory and storage prices driven by the global AI infrastructure build-out. He stated that Apple paid more for memory in each of the past three quarters and expects costs to rise again in the September quarter.