A few days ago, Apple released the results for its 2026 fiscal third quarter (which ran from March 29, 2026, to June 27, 2026) and held a call with analysts to discuss the results. Apple’s fiscal third quarter is usually a less interesting quarter for Apple—it’s not like we often see interesting new products released in April, May, or June—but this call was notable. First, it was the very last earnings call overseen by Apple CEO Tim Cook: his 90th call. Starting September 1, John Ternus takes over as Apple’s CEO. Second, it was a record third quarter for Apple. They may not sound notable because, for many years now, Apple’s financial results have been excellent virtually every quarter. But it was notable this time because Tim Cook is going out on top. The first time that Tim Cook led one of these calls as CEO was the 2011 fiscal third quarter. As I noted in my report at the time, Cook announced a record-setting quarter for Apple with sales of $28.57 billion. It is now fifteen years later, and this time Cook announced a record-setting quarter for Apple with sales of $109.4 billion. To put this in perspective, Apple’s 2011 revenue was $108 billion for the entire fiscal year; now, Apple is making more than that in a single quarter—and not even the fiscal first quarter, the one that is typically the highest because of holiday sales. Those numbers are pretty impressive, but the main reason I’ve been reporting on these calls for so many years is that the calls often provide insights into Apple products such as the iPhone and iPad. If you want to get all of the nitty-gritty details, you can listen to the audio from the announcement conference call on the Apple website, or you can read a transcript of the call prepared by Jason Snell of Six Colors. Apple’s official press release is here. Here are the items that stood out to me.
iPhone
- iPhone revenue for the quarter was $54.3 billion. That’s up 22% from a year ago, when it was $44.6 billion. And it is a new record for an Apple fiscal third quarter.
- Apple CFO Kevan Parekh noted that the number of iPhones in use worldwide is now at an all-time high.
- Parekh also noted that Morgan Stanley has deployed over 20,000 iPhone 17 devices to its employees as part of a shift from employee-owned to corporate-owned devices for liability and security.
- Prices for iPhones and other Apple products are rising due to shortages and price increases in the memory market. Cook said that, at this point, he expects memory prices to continue rising, and Apple is evaluating what to do about it.
iPad
- iPad revenue for the quarter was $6.2 billion. That’s down slightly from a year ago, when it was $6.6 billion, and down even more from two years ago, when it was $7.2 billion.
- Parekh noted that the number of iPads in use worldwide is now at an all-time high. He also noted that over half of the people who purchased an iPad this quarter were purchasing their first iPad.
Other
- Apple’s improved AI is coming out very soon—I presume next month. Cook said: “I think it’s a very big idea to have AI that’s private, that’s based on your personal context, and that’s integrated across the operating system, and so we couldn’t be happier with how things are going.”
- Cook said revenue for the category Apple calls Wearables, Home, and Accessories was $7.9 billion, up 6% from a year ago.
- Cook said that this past quarter, Apple saw a record number of people upgrading an Apple Watch compared to any other fiscal third quarter.
- Cook said that services revenue was $30.7 billion, which is up 12% from last year and a record for a fiscal third quarter. However, that is less than last quarter, when it was $31 billion, and as noted by Jason Snell of Six Colors, this is the first time in more than three years that Apple’s services revenue was not up sequentially.
- Cook noted that Apple TV has now earned an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony—sometimes called an EGOT—and said Apple reached that milestone faster than any other streamer in history. The show that earned Apple a Tony was the Broadway version of Schmigadoon!, and I think Apple TV canceled the TV version of that show way too early. Is it too much to hope that the success on Broadway will cause the show to come back to TV?
- Cook noted that Widow’s Bay earned 19 Emmy nominations, more than any other new show this year.