Executives acknowledged buyers were refraining from purchases because of "rumors and speculation" around the iPhone 5. They laid part of the blame on sputtering demand from European economies like Germany and France, while dismissing the impact of a Chinese slowdown.
China's economy grew at its slowest pace in three years in the second quarter. But Cook blamed the revenue shortfall in the region on changes in inventory as the company built up stocks of the iPhone 4S in the previous quarter, adding he saw nothing in the Chinese economy as having had an impact on sales.
iPhone sales had surged when Apple began selling its "Siri" voice-search-equipped iPhone 4S and China Telecom signed on as a second carrier, Cook said.
In addition, the latest iPad also hit Chinese store shelves late -- last Friday, months after it had debuted elsewhere around the world.
Apple sold 4 million Mac computers, which was about flat from the previous quarter but 2 percent higher than the year-ago period.
