Apple has just released its earnings report for the first quarter of fiscal 2016, which runs from the beginning of October to the end of December. The holiday quarter is usually Apple's largest by far, and Apple still managed to grow a little even if it couldn't match the same astounding iPhone 6-driven growth levels it hit in Q1 of 2015. Profit and revenue are both up slightly, but it's mostly thanks to growth in the Services and Other Products categories. Revenue increased in all territories but the Americas and Japan, with China again accounting for most of the growth.

Apple broke quarterly records, with $18.4 billion in profit and $75.9 billion in revenue, compared to $18 billion in profit and $74.6 billion in revenue in Q1 of 2015. Its gross margin was 40.1 percent. These results beat the low end of Apple's guidance for the quarter, which predicted revenue between $75.5 billion and $77.5 billion and a profit margin between 39 and 40 percent.

The company predicts that it will make between $50 and $53 billion in revenue in the second quarter of fiscal 2016 with profit margins between 39 and 39.5 percent. Notably, this is a bit below the $58 billion in revenue that Apple made in Q2 of 2015, so if these numbers are accurate they would be Apple's first year-over-year revenue decrease in more than a decade.

Update: Apple noted in supplemental materials that fluctuating exchange rates around the world hurt its revenue significantly, and that they would have been $5 billion higher this quarter had currency remained constant. The company also said that it expected Q2 to be its toughest this year, because of both ongoing economic issues and because Q2 of 2015 saw the company catching up with some pent-up iPhone 6 demand leftover from Q1.

Growth-obsessed investors are worried about this, though it's important to remember that Apple set an impossibly high bar for itself to clear with its iPhone 6 sales numbers. Pent-up demand for larger phones and huge growth in China drove Apple's overall revenue up by 28 percent in 2015, but between the lack of all-new form factors, China's economic slowdown, and the lack of another gigantic market to move into, that sort of growth is going to be hard to top for the rest of the year.

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

Moving back to this quarter's numbers, things look OK overall, and growth in certain areas managed to make up for small declines in others. The Americas are still Apple's largest market by revenue even with a four-percent, year-over-year decline, but China's continued growth keeps it in a solid second place. Small increases for Europe and Asia-Pacific revenue also helped make up for the drops in American and Japanese numbers.

Apple's iPhone revenue is essentially flat, increasing just 0.90 percent over last year. Sales of iPads and Macs, the other two products that Apple breaks out individually, were down by 21.25 and 2.74 percent respectively. That news is balanced out by sales of software and services (up 26.25 percent year-over-year) and the Other Products category, which among other things includes the Apple Watch, the new Apple TV, the iPod, Beats headphones, and many other products. The new products in that category drove revenue up 61.71 percent.

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

The iPhone remains Apple's largest and most important product, and as high as the iPhone 6 sales were, it's impressive that Apple was able to meet them with the comparatively less-exciting iPhone 6S. Unit sales increased 0.42 percent (again, essentially flat) on sales of 74.78 million units. At $51.64 billion, the iPhone accounts for just over 68 percent of Apple's total revenue.

If Apple wanted the new features in iOS 9, the iPad Mini 4, or the iPad Pro to stop the iPad's decline, it can't be happy with the numbers this quarter. Unit sales are down to 16.12 million, a 24.74-percent decline from last year. That said, it's still a major moneymaker and pulled in $7.08 billion in revenue. It accounts for 9.33 percent of Apple's revenue, edging out the Mac to be the company's second-largest product line.

The Mac's unit sales fell 3.8 percent to 5.31 million units, but that isn't as worrying as the iPad numbers. Macs are a steady business for Apple and generally increase only gradually year-over-year, and Apple hasn't introduced any new laptops since the summer (we liked the new 4K and 5K iMacs, but we're willing to bet that Apple's desktop sales aren't as important to the Mac's bottom line as the laptops are). New MacBooks and MacBook Pros with Skylake CPUs should help revitalize sales later this year. At $6.75 billion, the Mac is Apple's second largest product by revenue.

Finally, we don't know much about how the Apple Watch is selling, but Apple called out the Watch and the new Apple TV as growth drivers that helped "Other Products" revenue get to $4.35 billion. Those products now account for 5.73 percent of the company, while revenues from the Services segment (including but not limited to Apple Music, the iTunes and App Stores, and software sales) rose to $6.06 billion. Those services account for about eight percent of Apple's revenue.