Apple Inc. reported a surprise fall in iPhone sales for its second quarter on Tuesday, indicating that customers may have held back purchases in anticipation of the 10th-anniversary edition of the company’s most important product later this year.

Under pressure from shareholders to hand over more of its $250 billion-plus hoard of cash and investments, Apple boosted its capital return programme by $50 billion, increased its share repurchase authorisation by $35 billion and raised its quarterly dividend by 10.5 per cent.

Investors were unmoved, sending shares of the world’s most valuable listed company down 1.9 per cent at $144.65 in after-hours trading.

Despite the dip in unit sales, iPhone revenues rose 1.2 per cent

Apple sold 50.76 million iPhones in its fiscal second quarter ended April 1, down from 51.19 million a year earlier. Analysts on average had estimated iPhone sales of 52.27 million, according to financial data and analytics firm FactSet.

Apple chief financial officer Luca Maestri argued the decline was not as bad as it looked, given the peculiarities of how sales are calculated.

The company reports what are called “sell-in” figures for the iPhone, a measure of how many units it sells to retailers, rather than “sell-through” figures, which measure how many phones are actually sold to consumers.

Maestri said the company reduced the volume of inventory going through its retail channel by about 1.2 million units in the quarter, meaning the company sold about 52 million phones to customers on a sell-through basis.

Despite the dip in unit sales, iPhone revenues rose 1.2 per cent in the quarter, helped by a higher average selling price.

Expectations are building ahead of Apple’s 10th-anniversary iPhone range, with investors hoping that the launch would help bolster sales.