Apple shares fall as Brexit takes effect

Apple could take a financial hit following the UK's decision to leave the European Union last month.

The demand for Apple devices has fallen, partly due to the economic downturn and instability of the pound since Brexit on 23 June, Citigroup Global Markets analyst Jim Suva told Bloomberg. This has exacerbated the company's ongoing problem with customers choosing notto upgrade their iPhones as frequently as they had until recently.

Financial results will be revealed by Apple on 26 July, and Suva predicts the reality will fall short of Wall Street's predictions for the tech giant. Shares were down 0.8 per cent to $95.14 as of Tuesday morning in New York.

The period of time for which consumers keep their iPhone before upgrading to a new model has been rapidly expanding since 2013, from 24 months to 28 months in 2016. This led to Apple's first quarterly sales decline, which was announced in April in its first quarterly report of the 2016 calendar year.

In January, Daniel Sparks of Motley Fool said: "Investors worry that Apple's conservative guidance for year-over-year revenue growth of about 2.5 per cent for... its important holiday quarter, which is its first fiscal quarter of 2016, could signal the beginning of a sustained trend of touch comparisons for iPhone sales.

"The iPhone, which represents about 63 per cent of revenue, can more or less make or break Apple's annual performance. So, it makes sense for investors to spend some time speculating about how well the phone may fair in the future."

In May, it was reported that Apple had ordered 78 million new iPhone units despite the fall in demand, with reports claiming that 10 million more than expected had been ordered.