On today’s post-earnings conference call, Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Kevan Parekh shared a few interesting tidbits about who drove sales across the company’s major product categories. Here are the details.
iPad
When addressing iPad revenue, Parekh said that sales were flat compared to a year ago, citing a “difficult compare” against the same quarter last year, when new iPad Air and iPad Pro drove sales. Still, he noted that performance came in better than expected.
As for who drove performance during the last quarter, he said the following:
“The install base reached an all-time high with a September quarter record for upgraders and over half of the customers who purchased an iPad during the quarter were new to the product.”
In other words, upgrades hit a record high, but more than half of iPad sales still come from first-time iPad buyers.
Apple Watch
Rather than disclosing Apple Watch revenue separately, Apple groups it under a broader category called “Wearables, Home, and Accessories.” Still, Parekh made a claim that has become a staple in every post-earnings conference call: most Apple Watch sales were for new users.
Or, as he put it:
“Both the Apple Watch and AirPods install bases reached new all-time highs. Over half of the customers purchasing an Apple Watch during the quarter were new to the product. And we also set a September record for upgrades on Apple Watch.”
So, much like the iPad, the company saw healthy Apple Watch performance for both newcomers and upgraders. Apple often highlights this data when discussing the Apple Watch performance to show that, despite its total addressable market being tied to iPhone users, the Watch still hasn’t reached an adoption ceiling.
Mac
Despite seeing a 13% year-over-year revenue growth, Parekh didn’t spend much time talking about the Mac when breaking down per-category revenue.
He stated that “the Mac install base reached another all-time high, with nearly half of customers who purchased a Mac being new to the product,” which means that, contrary to the iPad and Apple Watch, most Mac buyers during the last quarter were existing users who decided to upgrade, rather than switchers from Windows.
iPhone
In the quarter ended September 27, the iPhone raked in $49 billion, up 6% from the same quarter last year. That was also just 1% up from what Apple saw during Q4 2024 compared with the same period in 2023, which is a noter way of saying that sales have been stable during the pre-new iPhone season.
When it came to who actually drove iPhone revenue during Q4 2025, Parekh said that “the iPhone active install base grew to an all-time high, and we set a September quarter record for upgraders.”
In other words, like the Mac, most iPhone sales came from existing users upgrading their devices, rather than from switchers coming from Android.
So, while every category saw all-time highs for the install user base, most iPhone and Mac sales came from upgrades, whereas most Apple Watch and iPad sales came from users purchasing these devices for the first time.
Did you either upgrade or buy an Apple product for the first time during the last quarter? Let us know in the comments.
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