Apple sales rise 5%, topping estimates as iPad and Services revenues jump

Apple reported fiscal third-quarter earnings on Thursday that beat Wall Street expectations, with overall revenue rising 5%.  

Apple shares were flat in extended trading.

Here’s how Apple did versus LSEG consensus estimates for the quarter ended June 29: 

• EPS: $1.40 vs. $1.35 estimated 
• Revenue: $85.78 billion vs. $84.53 billion estimated 
• iPhone revenue: $39.30 billion vs. $38.81 billion estimated 
• Mac revenue: $7.01 billion vs. $7.02 billion estimated 
• iPad revenue: $7.16 billion vs. $6.61 billion estimated 
• Wearables, Home, and Accessories revenue: $8.10 billion vs. $7.79 billion estimated 
• Services revenue: $24.21 billion vs. $24.01 billion estimated 
• Gross margin: 46.3% vs. 46.1% estimated 

Apple expects similar overall revenue growth in the current quarter, company finance chief Luca Maestri said on a call with analysts.

Apple also expects Services to grow at about the same rate as the previous three quarters, which was about 14%. The company sees operating expenditures between $14.2 billion and $14.4 billion in the current quarter, Maestri added, with gross margin of between 45.5% and 46.5%.

Apple reported $21.45 billion in net income during the quarter, versus $19.88 billion, or $1.26 per share,  in the year-ago period.  

Apple’s most important business remains the iPhone, which accounted for about 46% of the company’s total sales during the quarter. While the tech giant beat LSEG estimates, the product line still declined about 1% year over year, to $39.29 billion in revenue.  

“On a constant currency basis, we grew year on year. And so that’s sort of how we look at it from an operational point of view,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC’s Steve Kovach.  

Cook said that while Apple can’t yet speak to the positive sales impact from its newly announced Apple Intelligence service until it starts shipping to customers later this fall, he said the company has boosted spending to get the service ready.  

“What we’ve done is we’ve redeployed a lot of people on to AI that were working on other things,” Cook said. “From a data center point of view, as you know, we have a hybrid approach. So, we both have our own and we partner with people. And so that capex would be in the partners’ financials, and we would be paying expense.” 

“Certainly embedded in our results this quarter is an increase year over year in the amount we’re spending for AI and Apple intelligence,” Cook added.  

Apple showed strongest growth in its iPad division, which grew nearly 24% year over year to $7.16 billion in sales. It released new iPads during the quarter for the first time since 2022, which spurred a wave of upgrades. 

Cook said that about half of iPad buyers are first-time buyers, suggesting the tablet market is not yet saturated. 

Apple’s Mac division reported $7 billion in sales, up about 2% from the year-ago quarter.  

Apple Watch sales, headphones such as Beats or AirPods, and HomePod home speakers are reported under “Wearables, Home, and Accessories.” Sales in the catch-all category declined 2% to $8.10 billion during the quarter.  

“A whopping two-thirds of the Apple Watch buyers were new to the product. So, we’re still growing that base significantly,” Cook said.  

The Services business is the most important growth category for Apple and includes hardware warranties, revenue from Google, monthly cloud storage subscriptions, and the company’s content subscriptions, such as Apple TV+. The company reported $24.21 billion in Services sales, up 14% and in line with Apple’s forecast and LSEG estimates. 

Apple said in a statement that it had more active devices in each of its regions than it ever had before, without providing a specific number. The active device count is important because it signifies a group of existing customers to which it can sell its profitable services. Apple said in February that it had 2.2 billion active devices.  

The company said it had 1 billion paid subscriptions, which includes subscriptions to iPhone apps through Apple’s App Store.  

However, Apple sales declined 6% to $14.72 billion in greater China, a region that also includes Taiwan and Hong Kong. Apple is under pressure in mainland China as local rivals such as Huawei introduce competing products.  

“I don’t know how every chapter of the book reads, but we’re very confident in the long term,” Cook said on a call with analysts.

Apple said it spent $32 billion on dividends and share repurchases during the quarter.