Apple is the next tech giant in line to announce its quarterly earnings later today, and once again all eyes will be on the performance of its flagship iPhone. As we all know, the iPhone has been the main driving force behind Apple’s spectacular rise to greatness over the last few years, but this time around things could be different, with all the signs pointing to stuttering sales and zero growth for the first time in six years.

These indications have come from various phone carriers which released their own reports on iPhone sales last week – the most telling of which came from Verizon, which said that sales were higher than previously anticipated, albeit only just.

Unfortunately, Apple’s sales haven’t outperformed its own expectations by enough, and as a result the company is expected to post earnings of $7.31 per share, with sales totaling $35 billion for the second quarter. This is in line with Apple’s earlier prediction of $33.5 to $35.5 billion sales, but still some way behind its $9.32 earnings per share from the same quarter last year.

Rotten Apple?

So why is Apple suddenly finding it hard to make money? Well, first things first – it’s still raking in a huge amount of cash that would give any other company’s CEO an orgasm, and so any talk of a crisis is exactly that – just talk. But Apple being the superstar that it is, the lack of growth this time round will be a cause for concern for its investors. Much of the blame has been laid on the company’s gross margins – the amount it makes on each product sale. This is likely to take quite a hit – the company’s forecast expects gross margins of 36%-37%, down from 43% one year ago. During its first quarter earnings call, Apple pointed to the weaker US dollar, and also lower than expected revenues on its iPad Mini as reasons for this decline.

It’s just as well that the iPhone is outperforming expectations then. According to analysts, the company is likely to post sales of about 26.5 million iPhones, about 500,000 more than originally expected. It’s other devices have fared less well however – Apple is expected to announce sales of around 18 million iPads (down from 19.5 million in the last quarter), 3.9 million Macs (down from 4 million last year), and 4.8 million iPods (down from 6.8 million last year).

There’s been a lot of talk lately that Apple has lost its ‘innovation edge’ since the demise of Steve Jobs, that its rivals Google and Samsung are gaining ground, and that this will force the company into offering lower-priced, less profitable products, further eroding its profits. While there’s some truth to these rumors – Apple’s poised to launch a ‘budget’ version of the iPhone according to various reports – in reality its lack of growth is surely just a blip. Even if Apple does launch a budget phone, that’s unlikely to impact its core base of fanbois, who will do whatever it takes to get their hands on the company’s latest and best iPhone no matter what the price.

By all accounts there’s plenty more innovation left in Apple’s tank anyhow. Reports have been coming in thick and fast from the likes of Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal and others that the company is negotiating with cable TV companies for its long-rumored iTV, which could possibly offer a premium, ad-free experience for those willing to pay for it. Whether or not an Apple TV ever sees the light of day is still a matter of debate, but it’s clear enough that the company wants to make an impression in the TV arena somehow, and when it does its legion of devotees will surely embrace whatever it comes up with.

We’re also hearing reports of innovation elsewhere, most notably with its so-called iWatch, and recently a new rumor that its building an even bigger iPad. Of course, you can bet your house that CEO Tim Cook won’t be talking about any of these products later today, but in any case it should be an exciting few months ahead as Apple gears up for its next generation of devices, profitable or not.

Apple will announce its results after the closing of markets on Tuesday, with a conference call scheduled to take place at 2pm PT.