Apple's CEO Tim Cook announced during the quarterly conference call for fiscal Q1 of 2016 that year-over-year sales of iPhone units will drop during the second quarter. That would happen for the first time since the company's first smartphone was launched in 2007. This follows Apple selling a record-breaking 61 million iPhones during Q2 of last year, which is astounding after the holiday season.

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Apple reported on January 26, Tuesday that in Q1 it set records with a profit of $18.4 billion,  revenue of $74.9 billion, and about $216 billion in cash, according to Tech Crunch.  The company reported that its Q1 2016 revenue would have been $5 billion higher (average size of Fortune 500 company) if the value of the United States dollar had been lower.

Cook made the statement about Q2 sales figure projections after a question from Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi. He asked whether Apple's drop in quarterly iPhone sales represented a year-over-year decrease for fiscal year 2016.

Apple's CEO explained the company did not expect the decline in smartphone sales to continue past Q2 that ends at the end of March, according to Apple Insider. However, even Q2 sales figures are difficult to project.

Cook reported that last year's high Q2 iPhone sales helped to compensate for lower Q1 sales figures. Supply had been limited due to sky-high demand or the newly released iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models.

The Apple CEO also pointed out that the macro-economic situation is different now than one year ago. That is due to factors such as higher production costs and lower mobile device sales.

Apple Insider points out that there were some positive signs for Apple's future sales figures. They include the all-time highest number of switches from Android to Apple devices in Q1. In addition, about 60 percent of iPhone owners have not upgraded to the company's iPhone 6/6s series, which the company has made easier through its iPhone Upgrade Program.    

Cook believes that markets in China could boost Apple's sales figures past Q2. That includes many smartphone owners who have not upgraded from 3G phones to long-term evolution (LTE) units, and China's middle class rocketing to half a billion people by the year 2020.