Tariff refunds bolster Apple's record-breaking June quarter

Apple’s outgoing CEO, Tim Cook, delivered an emotional farewell to analysts and shareholders on Thursday as the company announced record June quarter results. His successor, John Ternus, will assume leadership at the beginning of September, with the company appearing to be in solid shape. The impressive results were accompanied by some worrying challenges, including slowing services growth and an unexpected issue in forecasting future demand.

Mac sales surged by an astonishing 28.7%, driven by the popular MacBook Neo, while overall the company saw growth in all areas except the iPad. In fiscal Q3 2026, Apple generated $109.4 billion in revenue, a 16% increase year-over-year, with a net quarterly profit of $29.8 billion. Gross margin for the quarter improved to 50.1%, up from 46.5% in the same quarter last year, though two percentage points of this improvement were attributed to tariff returns. iPhone sales increased by 21.7%, a notably high number for a traditionally slower quarter, while wearables saw a 6.5% rise. Services revenue grew by 12%, and the iPad experienced a decline of 5.9%.

The significant Mac sales quarter suggests positive future prospects, as Apple's Mac platform benefits from the iPhone halo and the MacBook Neo and MacBook Pro. Notably, Apple CFO Kevan Parekh stated that roughly half of large US education Mac purchases during the quarter replaced Windows and Chromebook devices. Some notable business wins included a 20,000-unit iPhone deployment at Morgan Stanley, reflecting a shift from employee-owned to corporate-owned/managed devices.

However, the company's memory pricing environment was described as a "100-year flood," leading to price increases on iPads and Macs. The DRAM market has only three primary suppliers, and Apple is exploring options for additional supply flexibility. Cook acknowledged the current memory pricing situation and the challenges faced by the company, attributing more than 100% of the sequential gross margin decline to memory cost changes.

Cook also highlighted the demand forecast issue, noting that while the company is meeting demand in the current quarter, it may face increased supply constraints in the future due to limited flexibility in the supply chain.