Apple Reports Record Services Revenue as iPhone Sales Rise 17%

Apple’s services business reached an all-time revenue high and iPhone sales climbed 17% in the company’s first earnings report under CEO John Ternus. The results covered the fourth quarter of Apple’s fiscal 2026, which ended Sept. 26, with total revenue rising 12% from a year earlier to $114.5 billion.

Services generated $31.57 billion in quarterly revenue, an increase of 9.8% from the same period a year earlier. The segment includes the App Store, Apple TV, Apple Music, Apple Pay, AppleCare, iCloud and advertising. Revenue from the iPhone family totaled $57.58 billion, setting a record for the September quarter.

Apple reported an overall gross margin of 47.9%. That figure included a benefit of approximately one percentage point from tariff refunds following the Supreme Court’s invalidation of Trump’s tariffs. Diluted earnings per share rose 14% year over year to $2.10, with tariff refunds contributing $0.05 to that result.

In a statement accompanying the results, Ternus highlighted the September-quarter iPhone sales record and the services business’s highest revenue to date. He described those results as “capping off our best fiscal year ever.” The report was his first since succeeding Tim Cook as chief executive on Sept. 1, after previously leading Apple’s hardware business.

Ternus also pointed to Apple’s product lineup as the company approached the holiday season. Among the devices he cited were the foldable iPhone Duo, the iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone 18 Pro Max. He characterized the lineup as the company’s most ambitious yet as it closed the year.

Beyond its phones, Ternus highlighted a newly introduced generation of hardware for the home and the arrival of Touch on the Mac for the first time. He also cited the all-new Siri AI as part of the lineup Apple would carry into the holiday shopping period.

Looking ahead, Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh said on the earnings call that Apple expected total revenue in the December 2026 quarter to grow between 7% and 10% compared with a year earlier. That outlook was below analyst forecasts and followed the 12% increase reported for the September quarter.

Parekh projected services revenue growth of 8% to 9% for the year-end quarter. That would represent slower growth than the segment’s 9.8% increase in the fiscal fourth quarter, when its revenue reached a new record.