The last time Apple's holiday quarter sales fell, America was consumed with Bush v. Gore and Tom Brady had one completed pass in his career.
Apple's sales fell 5% in the last three months of 2018 -- and that's the first time Apple's sales dropped during the final quarter of the year since 2000.
In 2000, Apple's biggest product was the Macintosh. But it only sold 659,000 of them in the holiday quarter of 2000 -- down from 1.4 million a year earlier.
The company also had introduced the G4 Cube in July 2000, its biggest flop of all time. Apple sold just 29,000 of them during the 2000 holiday quarter and had to sell them at a steep discount to get them out of stores.
The move came as a shock to Wall Street. For years, this figure has been a focus among industry watchers -- and it only seemed to go up, up, up. In more recent quarters, however, iPhone shipments have flatlined or even declined.
On Tuesday, Apple said iPhone revenue for the quarter fell 5% amid weakness in China. (See correction, below.) The figure suggests a decline in the number of iPhones sold.
Unlike other quarters, however, Apple won't say exactly how much.
Revenue from the app store, Apple Music, Apple Care and other subscriptions rose 19% to a record $10.9 billion. That's far less than the $52 billion Apple brought in from iPhone sales. But unlike the iPhone, it's growing -- strong.
Apple delivered solid growth from its wearables, home and accessories business too. Sales grew 33% from that business unit, which includes the Apple Watch, AirPods and HomePod.
Apple said it expects sales to come in between $55 billion and $59 billion this quarter, below analysts' median estimate of $59 billion, according to a survey of Apple analysts conducted by Refinitiv.
The company's profit will be pinched too. Apple expects its gross margin to come in between 37% and 38%, below Wall Street's expectation of 38.1%. That's also below the 38.3% gross margin Apple earned a year ago.
Investors weren't overly concerned, perhaps because the guidance wasn't quite as bad as some had feared: The stock was up 3% in after hours trading.
The sales decline was driven by a dip in iPhone sales, which Apple CEO Tim Cook previously said was primarily due to a slowdown in China. Apple's iPhone revenue for the quarter fell 15%, to $51.98 billion.
Apple's sales in China also fell considerably. It reported revenue in the region of $13.17 billion, down from $17.95 billion in the same period a year ago.
Apple stock initially rose as much as 3% in after hours trading Tuesday following the report.
What a difference three months makes.
The reason: weak iPhone sales, primarily in China.