Apple reported a record $114.5 billion in September-quarter revenue on Monday, but CEO John Ternus’s first earnings call at the company’s helm struck a cautious tone. The Information’s Martin Peers reported that Apple shares fell as much as 4 per cent in after-hours trading after the company guided toward slower growth ahead.
Finance chief Kevan Parekh guided to 7 to 10 per cent revenue growth for the December quarter, a marked slowdown from the 12 per cent recorded in the September period. He also projected a gross margin of 45 to 46 per cent, which MacRumors reported Ternus attributed to “unprecedented” memory costs that Apple expects to keep rising.
Ternus acknowledged that Apple cannot meet demand for the iPhone Duo and gave no timeline for balancing supply and demand. Mac and iPad supply are also expected to be constrained in the coming quarter, driven mainly by memory shortages as demand outstrips expectations, compounding earlier reports of iPhone Duo supply constraints.
The product results showed iPhone revenue of $57.6 billion, a September-quarter record, and Mac revenue of $10.8 billion, up from $8.7 billion a year earlier. Services revenue hit an all-time high of $31.6 billion, while iPad fell to $6.2 billion. Greater China revenue rose 21 per cent in the quarter to a record. The wearables category brought in $8.3 billion, an 8 per cent decline that Apple attributed to the tough comparison with the prior year’s launches of the Apple Watch SE 3 and AirPods Pro 3.
On software, Ternus repeated that Apple will place usage limits on server-side AI features, with paid expanded access for heavy users, though pricing has not been announced. He declined to explain why Apple did not launch a standard iPhone 18 this cycle. When asked whether touch on the MacBook Pro points to a unified operating system, Ternus said the company has “no fundamentally different changes” planned.
Ternus cited a deal with the Philippines Department of Education for 170,000 MacBook Neos, the company’s largest education deal for Mac. AppleInsider noted Ternus also highlighted Apple’s deepening US manufacturing under its $600 billion four-year commitment, supporting more than 450,000 American jobs. Six Colours published the full transcript.