Apple’s turnover beats Wall Street expectations on higher iPhone sales

Apple reported solid turnover growth in the history quarter as the tech throng offered a bullish outlook on how recent artificial intelligence features would drive an uptick in hardware sales into the holiday period.

The iPhone-maker’s turnover rose 6 per cent from a year ago to $94.9bn for the quarter to September 28, slightly above consensus estimates of $94.4bn.

Diluted returns per distribute were $0.97, after the corporation took a one-period $10.2bn responsibility fee in connection with an EU ruling earlier this year. Net returns was $14.7bn, compared to the $24.3bn estimated by analysts absent the fee.

In September a long-running legal dispute with the EU over the corporation’s Irish responsibility affairs resulted in a win for the regulator when the bloc’s top court ruled Apple must pay €13bn in back taxes.

Apple said that, excluding the fee, returns per distribute were $1.64, above consensus estimates of $1.60.

Overall iPhone sales were $46.2bn, compared with $43.8bn the year before.

The corporation’s services business, which includes the App Store and Apple Pay, continued the powerful growth it has seen over multiple quarters, hitting an all-period high of $24.9bn, up about 12 per cent year-on-year.

Shares of Apple, the globe’s most valuable listed corporation, are up more than 20 per cent year to date. They were 1.3 per cent lower after the results were released.

China sales were flat year-on-year at about $15bn, an advancement from the declines seen in the previous two quarters of 2024.

On Monday Apple began the launch of its recent AI features with software updates for iPhone, iPad and Mac. The first Apple Intelligence tools, initially available only in US English and limited on smartphones to the iPhone 15 and 16, included a revamped Siri voice assistant, writing aids and AI-powered photo editing tools.

Apple chief budgetary officer Luca Maestri told the budgetary Times that sales of the iPhone 16 — the latest model of its flagship smartphone that shipped on September 20 — had been “higher than iPhone 15 sales” during its first eight days of sales in 2023.

Customers were proving receptive to recent generative AI features, Maestri said, downloading the recent AI-concentrated operating structure at twice the speed that they were for last year’s software update.

More AI features, such as the integration of Siri with ChatGPT and AI-powered emoji and image production, are being tested and are expected to launch before the complete of the year.

Apple’s staggered way to releasing the features has raised questions about whether any anticipated AI-driven boost to sales will happen in period for the current quarter, which includes its busy holiday period.

Maestri is stepping down as chief budgetary officer at the commence of 2025, with Kevan Parekh, Apple’s vice-president for budgetary planning and analysis, taking over the role.