A 10% year-over-year decline in its iPhone sales in the first quarter of the year is the latest sign of weakness for a product that generates the bulk of Apple’s revenue. The drop announced Tuesday was the steepest for iPhone sales since the July-September quarter of 2020, when production bottlenecks caused by pandemic-related factory shutdowns delayed the release of that year’s model. The decline in iPhone sales was the main reason that Apple’s quarterly revenue fell 4% year-over-year to $90.8 billion. It was the fifth consecutive quarter that Apple’s revenue has declined year-over-year. Its profit also fell year-over-year, though by a smaller 2%, to $23.64 billion. But both revenue and profit came in ahead of analysts’ forecasts, according to FactSet Research. Part of the iPhone’s year-over-year decline in the recent quarter stems from a particularly strong performance in the year-ago period, when Apple said it was catching up with demand that had been delayed by pandemic-related shipping delays. Even with the decline, Apple remains one of the world’s most profitable companies. The Cupertino, California-based company announced a 4% increase in its dividend, to 25 cents a share, and said it would spend $110 billion to buy back its own stock. In addition to the iPhone sales decline, investors have also been concerned about what they see as a lack of focus by the company as other tech giants such as Microsoft and Google accelerate their bets on artificial intelligence, a technology that is expected to reshape industries and technologies. The latest quarterly report “leaves no doubt about the current state of Apple,” said Investing.com analyst Thomas Yeung. “More than any time in the past decade, the company needs new products and new solutions.” Also Read: Apple created a secret laboratory in Europe dedicated to AI (Portuguese version)