Apple's latest iPhone range sold about a million fewer handsets in the last three months of 2017 - but the firm still pulled in record revenues of $88.3bn (£62bn).

The tech giant sold 77.3 million iPhones, down slightly on the same quarter the year before.

However, sales of the pricey flagship iPhone X helped boost the company's profits to $20bn (£14bn).

Experts have expressed doubts over the mainstream appeal of the phone (which starts at £999 in the UK and $999 in the US) and whether iPhone sales can continue to grow long term.

"Once you get past all the enthusiasts who want the iPhone X, you get down to a lot of people who think $1,000 is a lot of money for a phone," said analyst Bob O'Donnell of research firm Technalysis.

"We may be getting near the peak of the smartphone market, and that impacts everyone, including Apple."

admitting a software update slowed down older iPhones to "protect electronic components". The company may also have lost trust among some shoppers after recently

But Apple boss Tim Cook said the X model had "surpassed our expectations and has been our top-selling iPhone every week since it shipped in November".

That may not be enough to kill off concerns among investors - especially as the company also gave a lower than expected sales and profit forecast for the first three months of 2018.

The firm says it is expecting revenues of $60bn-$62bn and gross margins of between 38% and 38.5%.

Analysts were expecting $65.7bn and 38.9%.





The iPhone remains the cash cow for the US company and accounted for two-thirds of its revenues in the last quarter, but there was also 18% growth in the "other product" category that includes the Apple Watch.