1 May 2026
If you are covering Apple’s latest financial results, please find below a comment from Ben Barringer, head of technology research at Quilter Cheviot:
“While not his last earnings call, Tim Cook has fired the starting gun on the transition, leaving John Ternus with a business in better shape than feared. Revenues were up 17% in the latest quarter, with margins also looking good, and beating consensus expectations. It is mostly driven by the strength of iPhone 17 sales, and in fact Apple could have sold a lot more if it were not for being capacity constrained by TSMC. The glut of demand for AI is clearly hitting consumer tech companies. The Mac Minis are also proving popular with consumers for agentic AI, but again Apple is somewhat constrained by a lack of chips.
“There are a number of positives, however, with China sales recovering well after a lacklustre period. Furthermore, the overall guidance is a lot stronger than the market expected, with revenues expected to hit around 15% for the next quarter. There are concerns around memory prices acting as a significant headwind, but again Apple calmed fears here with a smaller than expected hit.
“The next catalyst for the business will be the next iteration of its AI strategy at its Worldwide Developers Conference. Apple’s AI has been trailing behind peers, so with a change in leadership and an announcement that it is no longer targeting a net cash neutral position, or in other words prepared to invest more, it will be hoping to turn around its fortunes in this space.”
