Apple on Thursday reported a fourth consecutive quarter of negative sales growth.

Revenue of $89.5 billion was a slight beat to consensus, which expected $89.34 billion from the world’s most important company.

Remember: Apple’s more than a consumer story. It’s more than a tech story too. Thanks to its “symbiotic” relationship with China (as Tim Cook put it earlier this year), Apple’s a geopolitical and supply chain bellwether.

Despite another quarter of top-line contraction, the YoY declines have narrowed. Revenue was basically flat.

The market was more interested in iPhone sales and Greater China revenue than the overall top-line print this quarter. The new iPhone went on sale a little over a week before quarter-end.

iPhone sales were $43.8 billion. That was a beat. Barely. Consensus expected $43.73 billion. Although the haul counted as a September quarter record, I doubt anyone will be blown away.

Greater China sales of just over $15 billion looked light, and by a pretty sizable margin (around $2 billion short of estimates).

There was (and still is) palpable consternation about Apple’s sales in China given Xi Jinping’s crackdown on the use of foreign-made devices by government employees and workers at state-linked firms. Early indications were that sales have been lackluster in the country. The miss might validate those concerns.

Still, we should remind ourselves that although China’s plainly a key market, the percentage of overall sales that Apple derives from the country has fallen.

Elsewhere in the report, Mac revenue of $7.614 billion was well short of estimates. Analysts expected more than $8.75 billion. The company unveiled new Macs this week. iPad sales of $6.443 billion were marginally better than expected. Wearables was a slight miss.

Services was a bright spot, which I guess isn’t surprising. Revenue of $22.314 billion was an all-time high and easily outstripped consensus.

On the bottom line, EPS of $1.46 rose 13% YoY and counted as a solid beat. Gross margin beat and operating expenses were slightly lower than expected.

Luca Maestri touted new all-time highs for the company’s active installed device base across every product and every geographic segment. Cook said the company’s product lineup is the strongest ever headed into the holiday season.

All in all, it’s hard to imagine anyone being especially excited about Apple’s quarter, even as the company is obviously still doing quite well for itself and also for its shareholders, which is all of us in one way or another.

Market sentiment turned favorable mid-week, so it’s really just a matter of whether Apple’s numbers counted as “good enough” to avoid upsetting the… well, the apple cart.