Apple posted record quarterly revenue of $75.9 billion for the fiscal 2016 first quarter ended December 26, 2015, despite the slow down of the iPhone sales. The company also posted record quarterly net income of $18.4 billion, or $3.28 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $74.6 billion and net income of $18 billion, or $3.06 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 40.1 percent compared to 39.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 66 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

"Our team delivered Apple’s biggest quarter ever, thanks to the world’s most innovative products and all-time record sales of iPhone, Apple Watch and Apple TV," said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. "The growth of our Services business accelerated during the quarter to produce record results, and our installed base recently crossed a major milestone of one billion active devices."

In the recent quarter, iPhone sales rose to 74.8 million units. IPad purchases continued to decline, with Apple selling 16.1 million tablets, compared with a projection of 17.3 million. Mac sales fell to 5.31 million, compared with the 5.8 million estimated.

Apple didn’t disclose sales for Apple Watch.

However, Apple is forecasting a sales decline for the first time in more than a decade.

Revenue in the first three months of the year will be $50 billion to $53 billion, Apple said, the first quarterly drop since 2003. That follows a holiday quarter in which overall sales and iPhone shipments fell short of projections, reinforcing concerns that Apple is reaching the limits of iPhone growth and that a push in China won’t make up for a slowdown in the rest of the world.

Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has expanded in China and released new services and products such as Apple Watch to help broaden the business, but the company’s dependence on the iPhone leaves it vulnerable to any deceleration in demand.

Apple has been adding tools such as the Apple Music streaming service and Apple Pay digital payments to augment its business, but the challenge is generating enough revenue from new products to move the needle for a company of Apple’s size.

The company is also working to make subscription content available through its News app, giving publishers with paywalls a new way to control who sees their articles, according to a Reuters report.

The move would differentiate Apple News from Facebook's Instant Articles news offering, which does not offer subscriber-only content, and would likely give Apple a boost as it seeks to distinguish itself from a growing crowd of online news apps.

By making paid content available through its News app, Apple would give publishers a way to maintain relationships with readers and perhaps attract new subscribers.