Apple’s sales forecasts for the existing quarter appear to reassure investors, even if it said iPhone sales have eliminated the holiday era and that the source of revenue in China, a primary market, has declined sharply.
Sales overall are expected to be through a low-single-digit percentage in the existing quarter, Apple executives said on Thursday’s earnings call. Apple’s inventory increased more than 3% in after-hours trading after the guidelines.
Apple’s fiscal turnover of $124. 3 billion for the holiday era a quarterly record, expanding through 4% year-over-year and just beating the consensus estimate of $124. 1 billion.
However, China’s $18.51 billion in revenue badly missed forecasts of $21.57 billion. Apple Intelligence has yet to roll out to the region.
“If you look at our biggest China profits for the quarter, we fell 11% year after year, and more than part of the decrease we experience driven through a replacement in the channel stock from the beginning to the end of the quarter” , Cook tells analysts.
Apple’s iPhone revenue also lacked targets of $69. 14 billion opposed to the $71. 04 billion estimate. The benefit consistent with consistent with $2. 40 percent, over $2. 35 planned.
During an earnings call following the results, CEO Tim Cook was asked about two of the biggest topics on Wall Street analysts’ minds: Chinese AI startup DeepSeek and Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs.
Referring to Deepseek, Cook said that, in general, “the innovation that stimulates power is one thing. “
“From the point of view of capital spending, we have followed a very prudent and deliberative technique for our expenses, and we continue to take advantage of a hybrid model, which, I think, also continues to serve,” Cook said, referring to Apple’s strategy.
He had less to say about Trump’s possible tariffs, which could impact China, where Apple manufactures the majority of its iPhones.
“We are monitoring the situation and don’t have anything more to add than that,” Cook said.
Apple’s services activity, which includes segments such as its subscriptions, iCloud, advertising and Apple Care, was a bright spot in the room. It’s higher by 14% year-over-year to succeed at a record $26. 3 billion with a gross margin of 75%, more than a hundred base numbers.
Apple shares have fallen by almost 5% so far in 2025 from the final of the Thursday’s market.
It can offset the effects of Apple’s revenue stream and what was discussed on the analyst call below:
“We are tracking and we have nothing more to climb than that,” says Cook.
Under the last Trump administration, Apple can avoid being included in Trump’s rate in China.
“I think it will run,” says Cook. “I get comments from other characteristics of other people today. Keep the brain that in the iPhone appearance of our company, will have to have an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 16 to use Apple’s intelligence. As this base is developing, The use continues to grow.
Cook says he receives many emails a day and that the AI summary serves as it is “so important. “In April, Apple will roll out Apple’s intelligence in a full range of new languages, Cook said.
“The base grows further,” he says.
“There are many compelling reasons to upgrade,” Cook says.
Apple has been largely marketing the artificial intelligence characteristics of the iPhone 16, since it seems to convince other people to transfer from older phones. However, some of the characteristics that Apple announced last year have not yet been launched.
Cook reiterates that iPhone sales are up in regions where Apple Intelligence is available.
Carcass stock in China has shrunk through the end of the quarter, which Cook said has driven the 11% share of the giant market.
“Part of the explanation of why our sales were a little higher than we had planned to be towards the end of the quarter, and we ended up a little thinner than we had planned,” Cook.
“It’s the world’s maximum competitive market,” says Cook.
Cook says the iPhone has more room to innovate and expand Apple products in the pipeline.
iPads had a “good amount” of new customers in fiscal Q1 driven, in part, by iPad Air, Cook adds.
Cook says that in general, “innovation that drives power is one thing,” referring to Deepseek.
“From a CapEx point of view, we’ve always taken a very prudent, deliberative approach to our expenditure, and we continue to leverage a hybrid model, which I think continues to serve as well,” Cook said, referencing Apple’s AI strategy.
Apple’s stock is now trading up over 3% in after hours.
Apple doesn’t release the full novel like other companies, but they give away knowledge points.
Apple’s CFO said the company expects foreign currency exchange to be a “headwind,” which is expected to have a negative impact of 2.5 percentage points on quarterly revenue. Parekh says services is expected to grow by low double digits.
The general source of income expansion will be comparable to the expansion of December, with low figure expansion.
Apple’s new financial director Kevan Parekh, on paper on January 1. He has been with Apple since 2013.
Cook highlights Apple’s developing services earnings, adding Appletv. Cook, we should pull out a cry for “indemnification,” which he helped advertise with a video venue.
Apple TV Plus Productions obtained more than 2,500 appointments and 538 victories, such as Cook.
Cook highlights reaching 2.35 billion installed devices in December. He shouts out Apple Intelligence features that rolled out in fiscal Q1.
He mocks a “Siri capable later. “
“Our minds go to everyone who starts the trail of recovery,” Cook explains.
“Many of our team shelters,” he adds.
Cook says Apple is supporting those affected through the Los Angeles-area fires.
Cook is joined by the new CFO, Kevan Parekh, for the fiscal Q1 call.
This is Parekh’s first as CFO since replacing the previous Luca Maestri this month. Apple announced Maestri’s transition out of the role in August.
Jacob Bourne, analyst at EMARKETER, a sister company to Business Insider, said that “Apple’s ability to deliver a solid quarter, beating expectations despite macro headwinds, validates its multi-faceted strategy.”
“While the corporate’s prudent technique in deploying AI has drawn criticism, the physically powerful expansion of ecosystem expansion gives it a very important boost to help mitigate its difficulties for iPhone non-stop in China,” Bourne said.
“However, Apple will have to increase its display of Apple’s intelligence and be a bit more competitive in emerging spaces such as the progression of wise glasses to have an advantage of Van verify that it can balance its cautious technique with the hunger of the market for the market for the Innovation of AI.
Revenue in Greater China fell 11. 1% year-over-year in Apple’s fiscal first quarter. The declining factors in sales come with “changes in channel inventory” and the unavailability of Apple’s intelligence in the region, Cook told CNBC in an interview.
“In the quarter of December, we saw that in the markets where we had deployed Apple’s intelligence, that the functionality year after year of the circle of relatives of the iPhone 16 more powerful than the markets where we had not deployed the intelligence of Apple”, “Cook ” saying.
First quarter
Product Revenue: $97. 96 billion, 1. 6% in and/y, estimate of $98. 02 billion
Source: Bloomberg data
Goldman Sachs analysts wrote that, although they expect iPhone shipments to decrease around 4% with respect to the quarter of the previous year, the upper costs of the iPhone are expected to compensate for the deficit, which will result in an expansion of the 1% year -on -year earnings for Apple’s flagship.
The bank is already aimed at Apple’s next iPhones, which expect expansion as new characteristics of AI are implemented.
“They encourage us through the prospective for accelerating the expansion of the iPhone in F2026 driven through new products for the iPhone 17/18 and the non -stop display of Apple’s intelligence to new markets with a set of more characteristics,” Goldman said Sachs in a recent note.
A bright spot in the quarter should be Apple’s services business, with app store spending growth to reach an estimated 15% in the quarter with “ample runway for adoption of Apple’s services.”
“The considerations with respect to the limited have an effect on Apple’s intelligence on the call for iPhone and the Festival in China will probably be replaced through a concentrate in the new list of Apple intelligence characteristics revealed on WWDC 2025, the Launch of the new Macasarray iPad and iPhone products in the spring of 2025, and prospective for the new characteristics of the product for the iPhone 17/18, “said Goldman Sachs.
Goldman Sachs qualifies Apple as “Buy” with a $ 280 target.
Barclays analysts expect strong sales of the Apple and Mac products line to compensate for weakness in their iPhone business.
Barclays also said that its source string checks recommend a volume release decreasing the upcoming iPhone SE4 phone, which may weigh the company’s recommendation for its tax quarter for the time being.
“We that the March-Q Directives are the main event. We are cautious given the recently combined iPhone knowledge points, in-flight sales and further considerations about downward structure revisions,” Barclays said.
The firm said it expects Apple to sell 3 million of its yet-to-be-announced iPhone SE4 in the March quarter, which was below its initial expectations.
Barclays rates Apple with “same-moment weight” with a target of $183.
JPMorgan analysts said Wall Street will be less targeted on Apple’s budgetary effects in the first quarter and will turn on business recommendation on indices on iPhone sales.
The bank said in a recent note that Apple’s iPhone market share loss in China will “likely continue with the company already past its product cycle peak and with the consumer subsidies from the local administration to enable smartphone replacement for low to mid-tier phones, which excludes high-end smartphones.”
The Fort Dollar of the United States is also a wind against Apple and will build the profits. JPMorgan observed that consumers have little appetite to pay a higher value for Apple iPhones outside the doors the release of new products, which provides corporate limited flexibility through the softened the blow of the strong dollar.
Despite those opposite winds, JPMorgan said he hopes Apple does its premium evaluation thanks to the iPhone replacement cycle and its deployment of new AI functions.
“Apple remains one of the most favored Edge AI ecosystems to participate in the adoption of Edge AI with its broad presence across smartphones, PCs, and potentially more intelligent Smart Home devices in the future,” JPMorgan said.
JPMorgan rates Apple at “Overweight” and lowered its price target to $260 from $265.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a recent note that they fear about China’s “overly exaggerated” low-grade iPhone sales.
“Our recent Apple iPhone China checks are mixed to softer, but overall unit declines in the region we see as ‘manageable,'” Ives said, adding that he expects the company to meet Wall Street’s fiscal first-quarter revenue and profit expectations.
“We also believe Apple should have a strong performance on the services front which is the linchpin to the $4.5 trillion sum of the parts valuation we see over the next 12 to 18 months,” Ives added.
Ives said the continued rollout of Apple’s AI features is underappreciated by investors. He expects about 20% of the world’s population will access AI features via an Apple device in the coming years.
“What the Bears continue to lose at Apple is that its gold installed base of 1. 5 billion iPhones and 2. 3 billion iOS devices is unrivaled and will create a new history of expansion aimed at getting the street to factor in stock,” Ives said. .
Wedbush rates Apple at “Outperform” with a $325 price target.
Apple’s earnings results will likely showcase a recurring theme for its investors: weak iPhone sales in China to be offset by double-digit revenue growth in the company’s services business.
That is according to Anurag Rana, senior analyst in the Bloomberg Intelligence generation sector.
Low trends in customer spending in China, combined with a higher festival from Huawei, to Rana that Apple’s sales weakness will continue into the future.
But iPhone sales in the Americas and Europe should be a bright spot, according to the recent note from Rana.
“A building in two -digit sales of the will will probably be another brilliant point, driven by the use of UPD of the App Store building and other auxiliaries similar to the recently launched iPhone models,” Rana said.
Finally, Apple’s stock buyback program could be another bright spot for investors, with Rana estimating share repurchase figures of $25 billion to $27 billion in the quarter.
1st quarter
Products revenue estimate: $98.02 billion
Source: Bloomberg data
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