One chart showing just how important the iPhone is to Apple
Apple is just hours away from launching its latest long-awaited and much hyped flagship smartphone, the iPhone 7.
While the lack of a headphone socket has fans all of a flutter, it's the wider context of the launch which has Apple-watchers wondering.
Read more: Crunch time for Apple ahead of iPhone 7 launch?
The smartphone market globally, not just for Apple, has become tougher. The device is at saturation point in the most established markets and for the first time ever this year, sales slowed – even for Apple, which earlier this year reported its first ever decline in iPhone sales since it made its debut in 2007, and that translated into declining revenue.
Read more: Apple iPhone 7: Everything we think we know ahead of the big event
Despite a range of devices, the Macbook, the iPad and even the Apple Watch, along with a slew of new services in recent years – Apple Music, iCloud and Apple Care – they have failed to quite live up to the category defining iPhone over the years.
While analysts believe the iPhone will remain king, albeit without quite such spectacular growth as it's seen in the past, more than half of Apple's revenue comes from iPhone sales and has done since 2012, indicating just how important the iPhone is to Apple.
