Apple

The US tech giant sold 74.8 million iPhones in its fiscal first quarter, compared with 74.5 million a year ago.

Apple said revenue for the next quarter would be between $50bn (£34bn; €46bn) and $53bn, below the $58bn it reported for the same period a year ago.

This would mark Apple's first fall in revenues since it launched the iPhone.

Despite first-quarter iPhone sales being below the 75 million expected by analysts, it was still a record quarter for the company.

Most analysts believe Apple surpassed its own record by selling more than 74.5 million units of its flagship product in the final three months of 2015. But there are signs that iPhone sales in the first three months of 2016 will - for the first time ever - show an abrupt decline from the same period a year earlier.

That could mark a pivotal moment for the Silicon Valley giant. Apple is the world's biggest company, in terms of stock value, thanks to the iPhone's surging popularity around the world. In business terms, Apple makes most of its money from iPhone sales.

"Companies like Apple will probably make a compelling electric car, it seems like the obvious thing to do," Musk, who made billions from the success of PayPal, told the BBC.

"It's pretty hard to hide something if you hire over a thousand engineers to do it."

Apple is widely believed to be developing its own electric car. It has reportedly been scouting locations for testing and meeting with regulators, and has registered car-related website domains.

Tim Cook, its chief executive, has also said that the car industry should expect "massive change".

Shares in the world's most valuable company have fallen more than 15 percent over the last month, amid a drumbeat of news reports that some Asian parts suppliers are expecting Apple to trim orders for its signature smartphone this winter. Those fears were compounded Wednesday when the Wall Street Journal said one of Apple's most important contractors is sending some workers home on "early holiday" before the Chinese New Year in February.

South Korea-based Samsung on Monday appealed a $399 million judgment for illegally copying patented aspects of the look of Apple's iPhone, the latest round in a long-running fight between the two tech-industry giants.

The seven books are getting a makeover with more than 200 new illustrations in enhanced e-books made for Apple devices. More than half of the illustrations are animated or interactive, with such touches as a golden snitch from Quidditch matches flying away as you tap it on the screen. Series creator J.K. Rowling also goes deeper into some of the characters and story lines with a handful of pop-up annotations.

"Sales for the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus have been phenomenal, blowing past any previous first weekend sales results in Apple's history," CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. "Customers' feedback is incredible and they are loving 3D Touch and Live Photos."

Last year, Apple sold 10 million units and prior to that 9 million units in 2013. This year Apple released the new iPhone model in China on day one, which helped increase its sale numbers significantly.

The South Korean electronics giant is planning to launch a program for leasing its Galaxy phones in the U.S. market, similar to the one Apple announced just weeks ago, according to an industry executive with knowledge of Samsung’s plans. Samsung may be launching this leasing program in the next several months, although that timeline may accelerate, the executive said.

“It’s a no brainer why they wouldn’t do this,” the source said.

Reports circulating on Chinese social network Weibo suggest that the handset will be powered by a processor with six cores, according to AppleInsider.

This would be quite a jump for Apple, considering the current-generation A9 chipset powering the iPhone 6S packs only two cores.

Samsung, TSMC and Intel are among the component makers said to be jostling for the rights to produce the A10 processor for Apple.

Apple has warned that Pope Francis's impending visit to New York could stop the city's residents receiving their iPhone 6S pre-orders in time for this Friday's launch.

With traffic restrictions being placed on the bustling city during the pontiff's stay, it is expected that couriers will be unable to meet all delivery needs on the day.