Apple iPhone 6S and 6S Plus facing weak demand. Is the iPhone bubble bursting?

Tech giant Apple has seen its slowest growth ever and far from the double-digit growth investors have come to expect as the new iPhones face tough competition from their earlier versions.

Apple's current iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus smartphones were not able to dominate the comapany's smartphone lineup during the holiday quarter to the extent that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus did in the year-ago quarter, reports Reuters.

"Apple has become a victim of their own success as the blockbuster iPhone 6 product cycle was hard to replicate as many customers are either buying an older, cheaper iPhone 6 or waiting for the iPhone 7," FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives said.

The devices are part of the iPhone series and were announced on September 9, 2015, at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco by Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook. The iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus jointly serve as successors to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus of 2014.

Apple shares have slid 20 per cent since last year on these concerns. But in after-market trade yesterday the stock was down a modest 0.7 per cent at USD 99.30.

"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," chief executive Tim Cook said in an earnings release.

"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."

Apple reported that, overall, a billion iPhones, iPads, Macintosh computers, iPod touch devices, Apple TV units, and Apple Watch wearable computers had "engaged" with its services in the past three months.In the fiscal quarter Apple sold 74.8 million iPhones -- a record, but only fractionally higher than the 74.5 million in the same period last year and the slowest growth since the lifestyle-altering handsets were introduced in 2007.

A big question for Apple is whether it can continue to drive sales growth in a sluggish global economy, amid increasing competition from rival smartphone makers.

-With agency inputs