Strong iPhone business drives record sales at Apple

Outlook for Apple reports record sales thanks to iPhone business As of: November 3rd, 2026 • 9:13 a.m

Under new CEO John Ternus, Apple has exceeded the expectations of stock market professionals. iPhone sales and group revenues reached record levels in the third quarter. The stock still falls.

Strong demand and price increases gave Apple a tailwind in the third quarter - helped by the top models iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. Smartphone sales grew by 17.5 percent year-on-year to $57.56 billion, as the tech giant announced. Analysts on average had expected around a billion dollars less. The iPhone is by far the company's most important product.

In September, Apple traditionally brings new iPhone models onto the market, which are then available in time for the Christmas shopping season. The new Apple boss John Ternus told the business broadcaster CNBC that there were still bottlenecks with the company's first foldable model, the iPhone Duo. Apple's folding model, which costs more than 2,000 euros, is not included in the quarterly figures because official sales only began a few days ago.

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For the first time, Ternus presented its quarterly figures and answered questions from investors. The previous hardware boss took over the leadership position from long-time company leader Tim Cook in the middle of the quarter. He used the first analyst conference to formulate a vision for Apple. The group is guided by the fact that technology must make the world better, said Ternus.

Apple wants to achieve this through products that meet uncompromising standards of quality, performance, design and durability. In the AI ​​era, the iPhone remains at the center of Apple's business as a kind of personal digital hub. In other words: Apple is betting that it will be the iPhone and other company devices through which people will access applications with artificial intelligence (AI).

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Another reason for Apple's strong business figures is the recent price increases for various products. The company was reacting to the rapid increase in the cost of memory chips in recent months. This increase is unprecedented and continues, Ternus said. The group is trying to cushion this through, among other things, lower prices for other components.

The crucial question is how much of an impact the higher price will have on demand, said analyst Bob O'Donnell from the research house TECHnalysis. Other smartphone and laptop providers are clearly feeling the effects of customers' reluctance to buy. When it comes to AI, portfolio manager Dan Morgan from asset manager Synovus explained that other providers are significantly more technologically advanced. "But Apple emphasizes that Siri AI is far more focused on trust and privacy."

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Apple's consolidated sales climbed surprisingly significantly in the past three months by twelve percent to $114.48 billion. The bottom line is that profits also increased by twelve percent to $30.7 billion.

However, Apple is forecasting slower growth for the current quarter. Due to the continued rise in memory chip prices, the gross margin is likely to shrink to 45 to 46 percent from around 48 percent recently. This weighed on investor sentiment. Apple shares were temporarily down four percent after trading.

This topic in the program: tagesschau.de | iPhone sales bring Apple record results | Nov 3, 2026 | 05:31 am