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Apple is expected to return to growth. Just what will that look like?

Sales of the iPhone and a growing services business are key if the company is to break out of its slump.

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during a product launch event on October 27, 2016 in Cupertino, California. Stephen Lam / Getty Images

Apple is expected to post its first sales growth in several quarters when it reports quarterly earnings on Tuesday.

The company forecast in October that it would post revenue between $76 billion and $78 billion, up from $75.9 billion in December 2015.

If Apple does indeed return to sales growth, the iPhone will, of course, be the big driver; analysts expect Apple to have sold about 78 million of the devices during the quarter, which included the holiday season. That would be up about 4 percent from the previous year.

Next most closely watched will be Apple’s services business. Though it’s far, far smaller than its phone business (around 13 percent of sales), Apple’s services business has grown upward of 20 percent year over year.

“The 2016 App Store numbers and the New Year’s Day App Store sales underscore how quickly Apple is becoming a services business,” Loup Ventures analyst Gene Munster wrote in a recent research note.

But there are several other factors at play, including what analysts believe is a stabilization of the iPad market, as well as growth for the still-nascent Apple Watch.

Research firm Above Avalon is predicting that Apple sold 15.5 million iPads in the quarter, down 4 percent from a year ago, with sales of the Apple Watch pegged at about 5.4 million. Apple hasn’t yet broken out Apple Watch sales, so it may be tough to tell whether the company reaches that number or not.

The Mac remains another important component, with sales also expected to top five million, according to Above Avalon.

Apple watchers have plenty of other questions on their minds. Here’s what’s top-of-mind for us:

How will Donald Trump impact Apple’s business?

Apple’s relationship with the new president is a complicated one, as Trump has called on Apple to do more manufacturing in the U.S. and Tim Cook has criticized Trump’s moves on immigration.

What is Apple seeing in China?

Until recently, China had been Apple’s fastest-growing market. Last quarter, China was the area where Apple’s sales fell the most. The company remains bullish for the long term, but how did it do over the holidays, and what is it doing to boost sales?

How does Apple see its dispute with Qualcomm affecting business?

Apple and Qualcomm are in a pretty big legal tussle, but they still need each other. While it makes its own main processor for the iPhone, Apple depends on Qualcomm for the modem chip, especially for Sprint and Verizon, for which no ready alternative exists.


This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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