You don’t need to be a computer scientist to work out why iPhone sales are down | John Naughton

The slowdown at Apple should surprise no one given that most adults on the planet already have a smartphone

It must be tough being Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple. Well, perhaps we shouldn't be too sympathetic: in 2018 he took home $15,682,219, and his earnings since 2011 are estimated to be not far south of three quarters of a billion dollars. For that he has to run the world's most successful tech company. But that's probably a doddle compared with trying to manage the expectations of Wall Street and the world's media, both of which have an obsession with Apple that sometimes borders on psychosis.

It's not that long, for example, since the fevered speculation about whether Apple would be the first trillion-dollar company reached a climax on 2 August last year when it finally scaled that particular greasy pole. But since October its shares have dropped 20% and it's been overtaken by Microsoft - yes, ye olde Microsoft! - as the world's most valuable company. And then on 2 January, in a letter to investors, Tim Cook revealed that he expected revenues for the final quarter of 2018 to be lower than originally forecast.