Apple has closed its fiscal year with a record. The company reported $114.5 billion in revenue for its fiscal 2026 fourth quarter, the three months ended September 26, 2026 — up 12 percent from a year earlier and a record for a September quarter. It was also the first earnings report under chief executive John Ternus, who took over on September 1, 2026. The headline is a beat; the fine print, especially on margins, is where the next quarter’s story will be decided.
The headline numbers
Apple’s fiscal fourth quarter delivered records across the board: total revenue of $114.5 billion ($114.477 billion in the financial statements), up from $102.466 billion a year earlier; diluted earnings per share of $2.10, up 14 percent; and net income of $30.7 billion. For the full fiscal year, revenue reached $478.8 billion with diluted EPS of $8.98 — which Apple described as its best fiscal year ever. The company generated $28 billion in operating cash flow during the quarter and returned $28 billion to shareholders. Its board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share, payable November 16, 2026, to shareholders of record on November 12, 2026.
iPhone did the heavy lifting
iPhone revenue reached $57.6 billion, up about 17.5 percent from $49.0 billion a year earlier and a September-quarter record — more than half of everything Apple sold in the quarter. Notably, the quarter included only a few days of iPhone 18 Pro sales, and the new iPhone Duo foldable went on sale only after the quarter closed, so the December quarter will be the first to reflect the full new lineup. Mac revenue also rose strongly, to $10.8 billion from $8.7 billion a year earlier, while iPad revenue eased to $6.2 billion and Wearables, Home and Accessories slipped to $8.3 billion.
Services reaches an all-time high
Services revenue hit an all-time high of $31.6 billion, up from $28.8 billion a year earlier, on the strength of the App Store, subscriptions such as Apple Music and Apple TV, iCloud and Apple Pay. Growth of roughly 10 percent is still solid, but it is slower than in past years — and that matters, because Services is Apple’s highest-margin business and the steadiest part of its revenue mix. With the installed base of active devices at a new all-time high across all major product categories and regions, according to Apple, the subscription engine has a larger audience than ever to sell to.
The tariff-refund asterisk on margins
Gross margin was 47.9 percent, but Apple disclosed that about one percentage point of it came from tariff refunds, which also added $0.05 to earnings per share. Strip that out and the underlying margin was closer to 46.9 percent — still strong, but a reminder that part of the quarter’s shine was a one-off benefit rather than pure operating performance. Readers should keep that distinction in mind when comparing this quarter with the next one, where no such refund effect is assumed.
What the holiday-quarter guidance really says
On the earnings call, chief financial officer Kevan Parekh guided December-quarter revenue growth of 7 to 10 percent year over year — which Apple framed as its best view of constrained supply, and said would still make it the best revenue quarter in company history. Services growth was guided at 8 to 9 percent, and gross margin at 45 to 46 percent, below the 46.3 percent analysts expected according to CNBC reporting, with higher memory costs and costs tied to ramping up the new Siri AI cited as pressures. Operating expenses were guided at $20.4 billion to $20.8 billion. In short: Apple expects a record holiday quarter, but a somewhat less profitable one than the market hoped.
What to watch next
Three things will decide whether this record quarter becomes a record year. First, iPhone Duo supply: management has acknowledged the foldable is constrained, so availability, not demand, may cap the holiday quarter. Second, memory prices, which are squeezing margins across the industry and show up directly in Apple’s guidance. Third, the new Siri AI and the home lineup — including the HomeView smart display, which our earlier reporting found may already contain a hidden HomeKit camera mode — need to convert attention into sales. For context on that HomeView finding, read our report on how Apple’s smart display could double as a HomeKit security camera: https://inspireviraltimes.com/apple-homeview-homekit-security-camera-code/ — and on the reported $1,000 tabletop robot that may follow it: https://inspireviraltimes.com/apple-homeview-ultra-1000-dollar-robot-j595/ — plus our coverage of Apple’s first touchscreen MacBook Pro: https://inspireviraltimes.com/apple-new-macbook-pro-touchscreen/ — and, for a contrast in how AI spending is reshaping the wider tech economy, our report on enterprise AI spending reaching $177 billion: https://inspireviraltimes.com/menlo-enterprise-ai-spending-177-billion-agents-2026/
Sources
- Apple Newsroom, “Apple reports fourth quarter results” (November 3, 2026): https://www.apple.com/sg/newsroom/2026/11/apple-reports-fourth-quarter-results/
- Business Wire version of Apple’s results release: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261102433950/en/
- Morningstar republication of Apple’s results release with full financial statements: https://www.morningstar.com/news/business-wire/20261102433950/apple-reports-fourth-quarter-results
