Apple reported its first quarterly earnings since the release of its new lineup of iPhones on Thursday, beating Wall Street analysts’ expectations. The company showed steady financial growth and a strong bottom line despite slow progress on artificial intelligence. The report comes just days after the company hit a $4tn market value for the first time.
“Today, Apple is very proud to report a September quarter revenue record of $102.5 billion, including a September quarter revenue record for iPhone and an all-time revenue record for Services,” Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, said in a statement. Despite high overall iPhone sales, the company’s revenue in China from the smartphone came in below Wall Street estimates.
Cook also forecast 10% to 12% revenue growth in the quarter ending in December, typically Apple’s biggest of the year.
The slate of new iPhones, in particular the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro, has reinvigorated demand for Apple’s products, especially in China, where sales had been lagging behind projections. Demand for the ultra-thin iPhone Air remains the subject of speculation, with some analysts saying that the company has reduced production of the device and others asserting it has not.
“While the market remains fixated on AI adoption and monetization, Apple proves that the old recipe still works – at least for another quarter – with solid sales growth in its legacy products and services, supported by a better-than-feared global economy, driving solid revenue expansion,” said Thomas Monteiro, a senior analyst at Investing.com.
Apple reported $102.47bn in revenue, up 8% year over year, compared with analysts’ estimates of $102.24bn. The company also beat Wall Street’s expectations for its “other products” and services revenue. For iPhone revenue, Apple notched a slightly lower $49.03bn compared with estimates of $50.19bn. In after-hours trading, Apple’s stock rose slightly.
John Belton, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, said the positive estimates are due to increasing iPhone sales along with a price increase with the device’s newest model. “The most bullish data point coming out of Apple’s last earnings report was the iPhone revenue number,” Belton said. “The double-digit growth represented the best iPhone growth in at least three years.”
The strong revenue comes even as Apple has lagged behind other tech companies in releasing artificial intelligence products. The company has yet to fully roll out an AI product to compete with companies like Meta, Google and Microsoft. Apple has also struggled with the up-and-down tariffs that Donald Trump has levied on China and India, where the vast majority of the company’s manufacturing takes place.
Nevertheless, Apple’s stock has risen over the past few weeks, inflating the company’s market cap, one of only three companies worldwide worth more than $4tn. Both Nvidia and Microsoft have also hit that milestone.
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Apple’s share price has increased by more than 50% since a low point in April, which analysts credit to the debut of its latest products. Along with the iPhone 17, the company also launched new AirPod earbuds with live translation tools and upgrades to its Apple Watch lineup.
Apple is reporting earnings this week, along with other top tech behemoths, including Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Alphabet, as the wider US stock market hits record highs. Microsoft and Alphabet posted strong results on Wednesday, while Meta’s were more mixed, leading to a slump in share price.
