The news
Apple earnings released on July 30, 2026, showed revenue up 16% to $109.4 billion for the fiscal third quarter, a June-quarter record for Apple (AAPL), as iPhone and Mac sales surged despite supply constraints and tariff refunds lifted profit.
For the quarter ended June 27, 2026, diluted earnings per share (EPS) rose 29% to $2.02, including a $0.11 benefit from tariff refunds, according to Apple's release. Net income reached $29.8 billion, up from $23.4 billion a year earlier. Gross margin was 50.1%, including about 2 percentage points from tariff refunds. Apple said iPhone, Mac and Services each set June-quarter revenue records, and Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh said the installed base topped two and a half billion active devices.
iPhone revenue rose 22% to $54.3 billion and Mac revenue rose 29% to $10.4 billion, Parekh said on the earnings call. Services grew 12% to $30.7 billion and Wearables, Home and Accessories grew 6% to $7.9 billion. iPad revenue slipped to $6.2 billion from $6.6 billion, according to the filing. CEO Tim Cook said revenue grew by double digits in every geographic segment.
Apple's quarterly report explains the refunds. On February 20, 2026, the US Supreme Court struck down certain tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA); Apple applied for refunds through US Customs and Border Protection's process and books them as a reduction in product costs. Parekh said that without the refunds, gross margin would have landed at the midpoint of Apple's prior guidance, and later put the adjusted figure at 48.1%. Cook said Apple plans to reinvest the refunds in the US.
For the September quarter, Apple forecast revenue growth of 9% to 11%, with a foreign exchange headwind of about 2.5 points and supply constraints expected to increase significantly across iPhone, Mac and iPad. It guided gross margin to 47% to 48%, including about 1 point from tariff refunds. Analysts had expected 12% growth, according to LSEG data cited by CNBC, and the stock slid more than 6% in extended trading on July 30. It was Cook's final earnings call as CEO before hardware chief John Ternus takes over.
The numbers
- Revenue, quarter ended June 27, 2026
- $109.4 billion, up 16%
- Diluted EPS
- $2.02, up 29% (includes $0.11 from tariff refunds)
- Gross margin
- 50.1% (about 2 points from tariff refunds)
- iPhone revenue
- $54.3 billion, up 22%
- Mac revenue
- $10.4 billion, up 29%
- Services revenue
- $30.7 billion, up 12%
- September-quarter revenue growth guidance
- 9% to 11%
- Share repurchases in the quarter
- $25.8 billion
Why CEOs should care
CFOs and investors should separate the windfall from the run rate. Tariff refunds supplied $0.11 of the $2.02 in EPS and roughly 2 points of margin, and Apple expects only about 1 point of benefit in the September quarter. Excluding the refunds, EPS was $1.91, the adjusted figure CNBC compared with a $1.89 consensus, and still up about 22% from $1.57 by our calculation. Companies that paid the IEEPA tariffs struck down in February should confirm they have filed refund claims with Customs and Border Protection and decide in advance how to present any refunds to investors.
IT and procurement leaders should plan for tighter supply and higher prices. Apple said constraints on advanced chips would worsen in the September quarter and that memory costs would rise further, and its quarterly report says it expects the squeeze on chips, NAND storage and DRAM memory to intensify. It has already raised Mac and iPad prices, CNBC noted. Budgets for 2027 device refreshes should assume higher unit costs and longer lead times, and buyers with firm needs should consider ordering earlier or locking in pricing.
Boards should note how a record can mask a slowdown: the stock fell after hours as weak guidance overshadowed the sales beat, CNBC reported. Services, Apple's highest-margin business, came in below analyst estimates, and Parekh cited softer mobile gaming in the App Store. Directors at any company reporting one-time policy gains should ask management to show underlying margins alongside reported ones.
The bigger picture
The quarter showed how memory prices are squeezing even Apple. Cook said Apple paid significantly more for memory in the June quarter than in March, expects to pay even more in September and sees market prices rising beyond that; he called the situation "a hundred-year flood" and said Apple raised prices reluctantly. Parekh said memory costs explained more than all of the sequential decline in underlying gross margin from the March quarter's 49.3%.
Apple is also spending more on development. Operating expenses rose 23% to $19.1 billion, driven by research and development, Parekh said. CNBC noted that Apple was preparing to launch a redesigned Siri built with Google technology alongside new iPhones in September.
What happened next
On September 1, 2026, John Ternus became CEO and Cook became executive chair of the board, according to an SEC filing that day that set Ternus's annual salary at $3 million. On September 9, Apple unveiled the iPhone 18 Pro at a starting US price of $1,199, compared with the $1,099 price Apple listed for a 256GB iPhone 17 Pro in July.
What to watch: Apple's fiscal fourth-quarter report, Ternus's first as CEO, will show whether revenue growth landed in the 9% to 11% range despite supply limits, how much tariff-refund benefit remained in gross margin, and whether memory costs forced further price changes.
What “Fact-checked” means
Fact-checking means testing a story’s facts against the evidence before it is published. This story went through at least two separate checks before this version was published.
- What we checked
- Its names, figures, dates, job titles, quotes and who said what were checked against the story’s sources, including its main source where it could be opened. The headline was checked for accuracy and overstatement.
- How
- A first check reviewed the whole story. If it passed, a second, skeptical check went back to the sources to look for mistakes in the most important facts. If a check flagged the story, it was edited to fix the problems found, and a separate re-check then reviewed the whole story again.
- Who
- The checks are made with our newsroom’s technology tools, as steps kept separate from the writing, under rules set by our editor, Hussein Mukhtar. A story the checks still flag is not published automatically; it is held for the editor, who decides whether it is fixed, published or dropped.
- Archive story
- It was written after the event. Its dates were checked against the date of the event, including the dates of any later developments it reports.
- If something is wrong
- “Fact-checked” does not mean error-free. If a material error is found after publication, we correct the story and add a note saying what changed. Report an error
Companies in this story
