Apple's sales fall for the third consecutive quarter

Apple said Thursday that its revenue slipped 1% to $81.8 billion for its quarter ending July 1, marking the third consecutive year-over-year drop in quarterly revenue for the world's most valuable company.

There were some bright spots, however. The company said its services revenue reached a new all-time high of $21.1 billion. The services business - which includes Apple Music and Apple TV+ - is an increasingly important revenue driver for Apple.

Moreover, Apple's results narrowly beat Wall Street's estimates for revenue and profit.

iPhone revenue came in at $39.7 billion for the quarter, marking an approximately 2% year-over-year decline. Mac revenue was $6.8 billion for the quarter, a 7% drop, and iPad revenue was down nearly 20%.

Shares of Apple ticked down by more than 1% in after-hours trading Thursday. But the stock has climbed some 50% from the start of the year.

In a statement accompanying the earnings results, CEO Tim Cook touted the rosy services figure and strong performance in emerging markets.

"We are happy to report that we had an all-time revenue record in Services during the June quarter, driven by over 1 billion paid subscriptions, and we saw continued strength in emerging markets thanks to robust sales of iPhone," Cook said.