Apple’s January-March results, released Thursday, showcased the company’s best March quarter ever, with revenue rising 17% from a year earlier and net income climbing about 22%. The figures topped Wall Street expectations, as analysts surveyed by FactSet Research had forecast earnings of $1.95 per share on $109.46 billion in revenue.
iPhone sales, which brought in $56.99 billion, fueled the beat. Cook said in a statement that the period marked the company’s best March quarter ever, with “double-digit growth across every geographic segment.” The company credited strong demand for the iPhone 17 lineup, as well as the newly introduced iPhone 17e and MacBook Neo — entry-level devices aimed at making Apple’s ecosystem more affordable. Cook told analysts on a conference call that “customer response to Mac Neo has just been off the charts,” contributing to supply constraints for several Mac models in the current quarter.
Those constraints, Cook said, are driven by the availability of the advanced technology used to form processors — a bottleneck that will persist at least through June. Beyond the immediate quarter, Cook warned, “we believe memory costs will drive an increasing impact on our business, and we’ll continue to evaluate this.” Direxion’s head of capital markets, Jake Behan, said in a statement: “Apple showed that even the best operators can’t fully escape the memory squeeze. Tim Cook’s warning of ‘significantly higher’ costs in the coming quarters tells you how real the AI-driven supply crunch has become for the entire industry.”
Cook also addressed the long-promised revamp of Siri, saying Apple will bring “a more personalized Siri” to users this year, though he did not specify a timeline. He teased new software, developer tools, and artificial intelligence advancements, framing them as integrated rather than standalone features. “This is not AI as a standalone feature, but AI is an essential, intuitive part of the experience across our devices,” Cook said.
The earnings call also marked the public introduction of John Ternus, the head of hardware engineering who will become CEO on Sept. 1. Cook, who has led Apple for 15 years and oversaw a $3.6 trillion increase in market value, will remain as executive chairman. He emphasized his confidence in Ternus and said the two will work closely over the coming months to ensure a smooth transition. Ternus briefly addressed analysts: “This is the most exciting time in my 25 year career at Apple to be building products and services. There are so many opportunities before us, and I couldn’t be more optimistic about what’s to come.”