Apple assured investors that demand for the iPhone was getting stronger and the worst of the decline in sales of its flagship device was behind it, as it reported third-quarter results just ahead of Wall Street expectations.

Apple sold 40.3m iPhones in the three months to June, down 15 per cent on the prior year but at the higher end of analysts’ forecasts. Overall revenues fell 15 per cent to $42.4bn, with net income down 27 per cent to $7.8bn. Sales in China were the worst hit, down 33 per cent year on year, because of an economic slowdown.

Luca Maestri, chief financial officer, said that Apple was able to clear more iPhone inventory than it had anticipated and that unit sales had fallen less than they had in March, which he said had “turned out to be the low point for our cycle”.