*By Chloe Aiello* Apple shares tumbled on Friday, as investors and analysts processed the tech giant's announcement it would no longer publish unit sales for its iPhones, iPads, or Macs in future earnings reports. Apple executives have insisted the metrics are no longer relevant to investors ー but some analysts don't see it that way. "When we kind of look at this on the surface, clearly it appears to be that Apple is trying to hide something," CFRA Research's senior industry analyst Angelo Zino told Cheddar Friday. Despite beating on quarterly earnings and revenue, Apple ($AAPL) [disappointed investors on Thursday](https://cheddar.com/videos/apple-shares-tumble-despite-beating-earnings-expectations) with weaker-than-anticipated guidance for the ever-important holiday quarter, and iPhone unit sales that just missed the mark, notching almost zero growth from a year ago. But perhaps what shocked Apple watchers most was the company's decision to, beginning next quarter, withhold the number of iPhones, iPads, and Macs it sold. Apple's chief financial officer Luca Maestri announced the change on a conference call with investors following Thursday's earnings report, arguing "a unit of sale is less relevant for us today than it was in the past." CEO Tim Cook added, "This is a little bit like if you go to the market and you push your cart up to the cashier and she says or he says, 'How many units you have in there?' It doesn't matter a lot how many units there are in there in terms of the overall value of what's in the cart." Technology analyst Daniel Ives of Wedbush Securities said that although he understands the logic of the decision ー considering average selling prices are all over the board ー it damages Apple's reputation of transparency. "The Street will find this a tough pill to swallow this morning ... given that tracking iPhone units have become habitual to any investor that has closely followed the Apple story for the last decade-plus and is critical to the thesis," Ives wrote in a note on Friday. "Skeptics will point to Apple doing this right at the critical juncture where higher \[average selling prices\] are making up for slower unit sales which remains the worry and the stock will get hit accordingly this morning," he added. Despite their skepticism, both Ives and Zino remain bullish on Apple ー at least for now. "We are probably going to see a down environment in terms of unit shipments over the next year, but that being said, average selling prices continue to offset those declines," Zino said. "We are buying on the dip ... we are very positive, we are very bullish on this." Apple briefly its lost grip on its $1 trillion market capitalization during trading on Friday. The stock ultimately closed the day down about 6.8 percent, putting it in a so-called "correction," more than 10 percent off its all-time highs. Apple did not immediately respond to Cheddar's request for comment. For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/apple-earnings-spark-concerns).

Share:
More In Technology
Elizabeth Holmes Fraud Conviction Might Yield Five to Seven Years in Prison
The six-month trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has come to an end with the former tech startup star found guilty of four out of 11 counts of fraud. Michael S. Weinstein, Esq, chair of the white collar criminal defense practice at Cole Schotz, and former Department of Justice trial attorney, joined Cheddar News Wrap to discuss what happens next for the former mogul. "Do I think it's going to be more than five or seven years? Probably yes. I think that's probably a fair range at this point," he said about her potential prison sentence.
Elon Musk Sets Big Goals Towards Starship and Starlink
Elon Musk continues on his path to make a reusable rocket with his starship project, but it's not going to be easy. If successful, the rocket would heavily reduce launch costs, in addition to further developing Starlink, Musk’s satellite-based internet service. Rick Tumlinson, founding partner at Space Fund, spoke to Cheddar News about the future of SpaceX.
CES 2022 Begins on Wednesday
We are just one day away from what has been called the most influential tech event in the world. CES 2022 will officially kick off on Wednesday in Las Vegas, but the annual tech summit is being impacted by COVID-19, like so many other recent events. The Consumer Technology Association originally planned for a hybrid event to take place from January 5-8, with some in-person events and some virtual; however, a few big-name companies announced they will not be attending in-person, so the CTA decided to shorten the event by one day, with it now ending on Friday. Consumer electronics senior analyst Will Greenwald joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
California Starts Largest U.S. Food Waste Recycling Program
California's new composting law will affect what residents do in their kitchens. As of this week, Californians will have to recycle excess food in an effort to reduce emissions caused by food waste. Cities and counties will turn recycled food into compost or use it as a renewable energy source. California's new law is the largest mandatory residential food waste recycling program in the country. Rachel Wagoner, Director of the California Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery called the law 'the biggest change to trash' since recycling started in the 1980s. She joined Cheddar Climate to discuss.
Cars Made to Order Online Could Improve Supply Chain, Might Be Here to Stay in U.S.
Like the big changeover to e-commerce for retail, the COVID-19 pandemic has moved car buying trends to the digital showroom. Karl Brauer, an executive analyst at iSeeCars.com, joined Cheddar to talk about the "mindset shift" in consumers and businesses to order-based systems in the United States (something more common in other countries). While more than 60 percent of consumers still prefer to visit dealerships in-person, Brauer noted that consumers are better off ordering a car to spec, which would also help improve supply constraints. "It's really bad right now to be building cars and not really knowing who's going to buy them or when they're going to sell," he said. Manufacturing a car to order would maximize the efficiency of obtaining materials through the supply chain rather than "shotgunning it" at dealerships.
Load More