The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, Aug. 4, edition that Apple on Thursday posted sales and profit that beat Wall Street expectations despite a decline in iPhone sales, with its signature device's strong performance in China helping the company navigate a global decline in the smart phone market. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe reports that Apple said sales for the fiscal third quarter ended July 1 fell 1.4 per cent to $81.8-billion and earnings per share rose 5 per cent to $1.26 (all figures U.S.). That topped analyst expectations of $81.69-billion and $1.19 a share. iPhone sales slightly missed analyst estimates, but were made up for by strong sales in the services segment that contains Apple TV+ and by sales in China that grew 8 per cent year-over-year. Apple's research and development spending also hit $22.61-billion for the fiscal year so far, about $3.12-billion higher than at this point in the previous year. Apple said the increased R&D spending was in part driven by work on generative artificial intelligence, the same field that is driving spending at other big technology companies. Apple said iPhone sales were $39.67-billion, below analyst expectations of $39.91-billion.