Apple earnings recap: Tim Cook says he sees demand for iPhone 16 as stock falls on China weakness

Apple reported better-than-expected earnings in the fiscal fourth quarter.

Apple reported a profit and revenue beat for its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday as Wall Street looked for early indicators of how the new iPhone 16 is selling with Apple Intelligence.

Overall iPhone demand continued to be strong, with revenue growing 6% year over year to $46.2 billion, beating analyst estimates, though the company continued to face headwinds in China. The company has faced heavy competition from Chinese companies such as Huawei, Oppo, and Xiaomi.

The company also teased some early data points on iPhone 16 demand, which launched on September 20 toward the end of the quarter.

While the holiday quarter will reveal much more about how the devices are selling, Cook said in an interview with CNBC that iPhone 15 sales were “stronger than 14 in the year-ago quarter, and 16 was stronger than 15.”

Cook also said Apple Intelligence — a key set of AI features that the company is heavily marketing the iPhone 16 on — was a compelling reason for consumers to upgrade. User adoption of iOS 18.1, which launched in the US on Monday and included the first Apple Intelligence features, was twice the rate of iOS 17.1 a year ago.

The Apple CEO said he’s already receiving notes from customers praising the new health and hearing aid features that recently launched for AirPods Pro 2.

Apple’s iPad, wearables, and services divisions missed analysts’ revenue estimates. The services business, which saw record revenue, hit a new milestone with a $100 billion run rate.

Sales in China, an important market for Apple, were down year over year to $15.03 billion. Analysts had estimated $15.8 billion.

“We are very pleased that our active installed base of devices reached a new all-time high across all products and all geographic segments, thanks to our high levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty,” Cook said in a statement accompanying the earnings release.

Looking to the holiday quarter, Apple said it expected sales growth in the low to single digits. The company is planning to launch new Apple Intelligence features in December. Cook said he’s been using early versions of the software and it’s “changing my daily life.”

Cook declined to comment on the election on an earnings call with analysts. When asked about possible tariffs tied to the election results and any anticipated impact on Apple, which manufactures many of its devices in the country, Cook said he would punt on the question. He also said he didn’t want to comment on the DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit filed against Apple in March.

“I will save that for another day,” he said.

Speaking about AI investments and research and development spending, CFO Luca Maestri — who was on his final earnings call for Apple before transitioning to a new role— said that Apple had been investing heavily in R&D over the past several years. The company had also reallocated some of its internal resources toward AI, he added.

The “level of intensity toward AI has increased a lot,” the CFO said.

Apple’s stock was down around 2% in after-hours trading immediately following the analyst call.