
The change apparently was triggered by Apple's frustration with investors' fixation on its iPhone sales while glossing over other key areas, such as the robust growth in its services division that collects commissions on app sales and handles subscriptions to its music-streaming service.
In the year-ago quarter (Q4 2017), Apple earned $52.58 billion in revenue.
The disappointing forecast by the world's most valuable technology company helped send shares down as much as 7 percent, taking roughly $70 billion off Apple's market value and forcing that value below $1 trillion.
This newly formulated section will comprise of Apple Watch, HomePod and Beats. Before the year is out, support will also be provided for the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display (launched in 2012), the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro models launched in late 2012 and early 2013, the 2012 Mac Pro, and the GSM-only model of the iPhone 5. That was a disappointment, considering there were no big iPhone launches in the same period previous year.
Chief financial officer Luca Maestri said Apple also faces some supply uncertainty related to the roll-out of its latest products. "And so I think, or at least the way that I saw these, is each one of the emerging markets had a bit of a different story".
Dan Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust, called the forecast "discouraging" given broader concerns on Wall Street about slowing global growth, trade tariffs and foreign exchange rates. Apple CEO Tim Cook Justifies High Prices of iPhone XS Max, iPhone XS & iPhone XR.
The decision to stop reporting unit sales of the iPhone, in particular, was viewed by many Apple analysts as evidence that the company knows that while sales of iPhones are flattening, and may decline, Apple believes it can make up for such a scenario with higher average selling prices.
Apple will no longer reveal unit sales data regarding its devices.
Apple said it expects between $89 billion and $93 billion in revenue for its fiscal first quarter ending in December, with a midpoint of $91 billion coming in below Wall Street expectations of $93 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
For the new Pilot programme, Apple will only be offering repairs for vintage devices based on part availability.
The company also posted just a slight bump in the ever-important metric of iPhone sales, selling just under 47 million units.
However, the results come at a time when tech stocks, and the market overhaul, have faced significant turbulence.
Eight brokerages cut their price targets for Apple, but only one - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - cut its rating on the stock, to neutral from buy.