Apple figures: Another strong Christmas quarter
Apple once again earned well from October to December thanks to the iPhone – with record revenue and profit. The question is how long this will continue.
Apple boss Tim Cook.
(Image: Apple)
Good news from Cupertino: Apple was able to present excellent figures again on Friday night. In the fourth quarter from October to December, which corresponds to Apple's first fiscal quarter of 2026, a net profit of 42.1 billion dollars was achieved on revenue of 143.8 billion US dollars (operating profit: 51 billion dollars). Revenue is a record: it has never been so high in a quarter – whether in a traditionally strong Christmas quarter or at all. The revenue increase was 16 percent, and earnings per diluted share rose by 19 percent to 2.84 dollars. Operating cash flow in the quarter up to December 27 reached 53.92 billion dollars.
The iPhone – the new models in autumn were the 17, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max and Air – also had its best quarter ever, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook to analysts. The company was “significantly ahead of our expectations” with the result. Apple further announced that the number of actively used devices has now risen to 2.5 billion. Cook believes this is partly due to “incredible customer satisfaction.” For him, Apple builds the “absolute best products and services in the world” – despite the fact that there has been increasing criticism of the company's innovative strength recently, especially in the AI sector, where the company recently had to call on Google for help.
Higher Margin, Mac Shrinks
Apple was able to increase its gross margin again: it was 48.2 percent, an increase of 1.3 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Apple now intends to pay a dividend of 26 US cents per share on February 12 – to all shareholders as of February 9. However, Apple did not provide any revenue targets for the coming quarter. In terms of segment breakdown, the Services division once again shone.
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It now exceeded the revenue mark of 30 billion dollars – in the previous year's quarter, it was almost 4 billion less. The iPhone business grew from 69.1 to 85.2 billion dollars, and the iPad business from 8 to 8.5 billion dollars. However, the Mac saw a revenue decline from 8.9 to 8.3 billion dollars – partly due to a rather unattractive product portfolio in the autumn, where new Pro and Max MacBook Pro machines, for example, were missing. The Wearables, Home, and Accessories segment remained roughly the same at 11.49 billion dollars (previous year's quarter 11.7 billion dollars).
Google to Help – But How Exactly Remains Unclear
In the call with analysts, which traditionally followed the announcement of the quarterly figures, Cook said that the iPhone 17 is a unique product that combines “various compelling features for users in one piece of hardware.” It had performed “extremely well.” Cook did not say whether Apple Intelligence, which the industry widely sees as a disappointment, helped sales.
The Apple CEO brushed off the revenue decline in the Mac by pointing out that the Mac had grown for the year as a whole, just not in the quarter. Regarding the collaboration with Google, Cook said it was a partnership where Apple would continue to pursue its “own things” independently. He explicitly mentioned the long-delayed context-sensitive Siri, which is expected to benefit from this. Cook did not want to reveal further details about the collaboration and the arrangement with Google. Regarding customs duties, including those imposed by the Trump administration, Cook said that the amount set aside for this, 1.4 billion dollars, had been approximately met. In terms of geographical distribution, the largest revenue came from the Americas (58.5 billion dollars), followed by Europe (38.14 billion dollars) and Greater China (mainland China, including Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) with 25.5 billion dollars. The Americas increased by almost 5.9 billion dollars, Europe by just under 4.3 billion dollars, and China particularly significantly by 7 billion dollars.
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