Apple's iPhone total sales around the world continued to decline, despite having large revenues. This can be a potentially big problem for Apple and its CEO, Tim Cook, as phone markets are approaching saturation and have fewer areas to grow. This has been the trend for the iPhone since 2012. 

An article featured in Business Insider showed that Apple did earn a lot from markets in the U.S, Europe, and Japan. However, sales of iPhone units are down in the U.S and China; those places are considered Apple's main markets. According to data, the cheaper Android phones still has 88% of the total sales.

Apple is not the only phonemaker affected by the slowdown. The global premium phone demand has been declining, with total shipments down 4% this year. The U.S premium phone market declined by 11%, and Apple outperformed with just a slight margin.

Apple also encountered a problem in the populous and its second biggest market China, were iPhone shipments declined by 18%; the premium phone market in this country also declined 3%. Apple lost market share to domestic phonemakers Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo. Apple did not fare well in Japan either, as premium phone market there is down 13% and iPhone was down to 3%  

Apple did fare somewhat well in Europe. Europe's premium phone market was flat, but Apple managed to improve its market share to 40% from 39%.

It seems there is a lot of pressure for Apple Inc. to grow in the face of adverse market conditions. Despite the global premium phone market slowdown where growth slowed from 19% to current 1%, Apple still managed to increase sales by 4%, but its competitive edge seems to get waning. Low iPhone sales has long plagued Apple like a fishbone in the throat. Apple should work to solve it because many upcoming phone models offer amazing quality at lower prices.   

For more business news, check out Jobs and Hire.