Apple (AAPL) earnings report Q1 2026

Apple reported profit for the first quarter of the fiscal year That figure beat expectations on Thursday, with revenue up 16% year-on-year.

The company’s shares rose more than 1% in extended trading.

Here are the results that correspond to Wall Street expectations, according to LSEG consensus estimates for the quarter ending December:

• EPS: Estimated $2.84 and $2.67
• Revenues: $143.76 billion vs. $138.48 billion estimated

Here’s Apple’s performance relative to LSEG consensus estimates:

• iPhone revenue: $85.27 billion vs. $78.65 billion estimated
• Mac revenue: $8.39 billion vs. $8.95 billion estimated
• iPad revenue: $8.60 billion versus $8.13 billion estimated
• Wearables, Home and Accessories revenue: $11.49 billion versus $12.04 billion estimated
• Service revenue: $30.07 billion vs. $30.01 billion estimated
• Gross profit margin: Estimated 48.2% vs 47.5%

Finance chief Kevan Parekh said Apple expects its revenue to grow between 13% and 16% year-over-year this quarter, which would equate to between $107.8 billion and $110.66 billion. Analysts surveyed by LSEG were expecting $104.84 billion. Apple said that it expects iPhone supply to be limited during this period.

Apple also said it expects its Services unit to have a similar annual growth rate to the 14% in the December quarter.

The company reported net income of $42.1 billion, or $2.84 per share, compared to net income of $36.33 billion, or $2.40 per share, in the same period last year.

Overall iPhone revenue rose 23% year over year to $85.27 billion, which the company attributed to strong sales of iPhone 17 models released in September.

“The demand for the iPhone has been truly staggering,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC’s Steve Kovach.

The strong growth marks a reversal from last year’s holiday quarter, when Apple reported iPhone sales falling slightly.

Cook said Apple now has an active base of 2.5 billion iPhones, Macs and other Apple devices; This figure is higher than the 2.35 billion announced in January last year. This figure is being watched closely as it indicates an addressable market for Apple services as well as software on the company’s platforms.

Apple had particularly strong results in China, including Taiwan and Hong Kong. Sales in the region rose 38% to $25.53 billion in the quarter. Cook said that the performance in the region was due to iPhone sales.

“We broke an all-time record for upgraders in mainland China and saw double-digit growth in switchers,” Cook said. Upgraders refer to existing iPhone users who purchase newer models, while switchers refer to new customers who previously owned phones from different brands.

Apple is “frankly seeing a much bigger lift than we thought” in China, Cook said, adding that it was “product driven.”

Apple’s Mac laptop sales fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, falling 7% year over year. The company launched an updated MacBook Pro laptop with a new M4 chip in November.

The iPad business grew 6% year-over-year in the quarter to $8.6 billion, beating expectations. Half of the people who bought an iPad in the quarter had never owned an iPad before, Cook said.

The company reports AirPods, Apple Watch, Vision Pro and other accessories in a category called Wearables, Home and Accessories. Those sales fell 2% year over year, missing Wall Street forecasts.

Apple’s services business includes subscriptions like Apple TV and iCloud, as well as advertising revenue from licensing agreements with Google, AppleCare warranties and other offerings. Its sales increased by 14% year-on-year, reaching $26.34 billion. Apple TV’s viewership was up 36% in December from a year ago, Cook said.

Earlier this month, the company announced it would partner with Google to use the Gemini AI model to power Apple Intelligence software. Apple has spent much less on AI technology than peers like Meta and Microsoft, which have committed to spending hundreds of billions of dollars on AI infrastructure.

“We have absolutely the best platforms for AI in the world,” Cook said.

Apple recorded capital expenditures of $2.37 billion in the quarter, down from $2.94 billion in the same period last year. However, research and development expenses increased from $8.27 billion in the same period last year to $10.89 billion.

“AI will require increased investment on top of our normal product roadmap investment,” Parekh said.

All of Apple’s devices, including the iPhone, Mac, and iPad, use a lot of storage and memory, raising questions about how the company plans to cover rising component costs as memory prices rise worldwide due to an AI-driven shortage.

“We are in a supply chain mode to meet the very high levels of customer demand that we are currently constrained by,” Cook said. “At this point it is difficult to predict when supply and demand will balance.”

Cook added that one of the limitations relates to the advanced chip production needed for Apple’s processors. He also said that memory prices had a minor impact this quarter, but the company expects a larger impact in the current period.

“We continue to see market prices for memory increase significantly,” Cook said.

Apple spent about $32 billion on stock buybacks and dividends in the quarter, Parekh said.

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