Apple’s earnings top analysts’ forecasts but year-over-year sales drop again

Apple squeezed out a slightly higher profit last quarter (PA)

Apple made a slightly higher profit last quarter even though sales dipped during the period – a time during which the iPhone maker became the first publicly held company in the US to be valued at 3 trillion dollars.

The results released on Thursday covered April to June, the third consecutive quarter that Apple has posted a year-over-year decline in revenue. That is its longest stretch of declining sales in nearly seven years.