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Friday’s Featured News
Apple Posts Record Quarter, But AI Details Remain Unclear
By Leo Miller. Publication Date: 1/30/2026.
At a Glance
- Excitement around Apple’s iPhone 17 lineup boosted shares in the back half of 2025, and for good reason.
- The company saw its fastest sales growth since fiscal 2021 as the iPhone 17 lived up to the hype.
- However, the company’s long-term AI strategy remains uncertain, despite its potential to deliver significant growth.
Magnificent Seven giant Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) just released its much-anticipated Jan. 29 earnings report. For the iPhone maker, 2025 was a tale of two halves. Through the first six months of the year, shares were down roughly 18% as tariff concerns and the company’s lack of a clear artificial intelligence (AI) strategy weighed on the stock. That narrative shifted with the launch of Apple’s iPhone 17 lineup.
In the second half of 2025, shares returned nearly 33% as optimism around the newest iPhones grew and Apple posted record iPhone revenue in its September quarter. The company then projected that its December quarter—the holiday period—would be the “best ever for the company and the best ever for iPhone.”
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Apple more than lived up to that promise, blowing past analyst expectations. Below is a breakdown of the company’s latest report and what it could mean for AAPL going forward.
Apple Generates Record Sales, Sees Highest Growth in Four Years
In fiscal Q1 2026, Apple reported revenue of $143.8 billion, up 16% year-over-year. (Apple’s fiscal reporting period is one quarter ahead of the calendar period.) That comfortably topped estimates of $138.3 billion, which implied about 11% growth, and represented Apple’s fastest revenue growth since fiscal Q4 2021.
Earnings per share (EPS) came in at $2.84, a 19% increase that beat estimates of $2.65 (about 8% growth).
The company called iPhone demand “staggering,” with iPhone revenue of $85.3 billion—up 23%—its highest-ever iPhone revenue and the fastest iPhone sales growth since fiscal Q4 2021. This figure substantially exceeded Wall Street expectations of around $78.7 billion, led by particularly strong performance in China where iPhone sales reached $25.5 billion, up 38% (well above analyst expectations of roughly $21.3 billion).
Services revenue grew 14%, roughly in line with averages from the past two years.
For the next quarter, Apple expects revenue to grow between 13% and 16% and forecasts gross margin between 48% and 49%, a meaningful expansion from last year’s 47%. Using midpoint guidance, this implies operating margin expansion of about 50 basis points versus fiscal Q2 2025. Overall, the company’s guidance came in noticeably better than many had anticipated.
Despite the strong results, Apple shares were little changed in after-hours trading—up less than 1%—suggesting the market had already priced in robust iPhone sales.
Apple Notes Supply Constraints, Declines to Comment on Key Issues
While the quarter was impressive, the key question is whether this pace of growth is sustainable. Apple said supply constraints during the holiday period affected its sales projections for the coming quarter.
That means near-term growth could be capped by limited supply, not weakening demand—and could improve later in 2026 as Apple ramps up production. However, the company provided no specifics on growth beyond the next quarter or when supply-demand imbalances might ease.
On the earnings call, analysts pressed for details about Apple’s AI partnership with Google’s parent company, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), and its use of the Gemini model. Apple offered no new details.
Analysts also repeatedly questioned Apple about memory-chip pricing, an input cost that many expected to pressure gross margins. Management said higher revenue and a favorable product mix would sustain gross margin but declined to provide specifics on the memory market or how price changes might affect results through the year.
In short: analysts sought clarity, but Apple gave few concrete answers.
Apple & AI: Big Opportunity, Little Clarity
Given already elevated expectations, Apple delivered the numbers investors wanted in fiscal Q1. The market’s reaction suggests the stock had been priced for perfection leading into the report.
Apple has an installed base of roughly 2.5 billion active devices—iPhones, iPads, Watches, Macs and more—which presents a substantial opportunity to monetize AI features and services over time. Yet management declined to say how many of those devices are AI-capable, leaving investors waiting for more detail on how Apple plans to deploy AI across its ecosystem.
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