Apple breaks records in the third quarter, but its forecasts dampen market enthusiasm

Net income of $29,79 billion, or $2,02 per share: Apple posted a 27% increase in earnings for the period from April to June compared to the same period last year, when it stood at $23,43 billion. Revenue rose 16% to $109,42 billion, compared to $94,04 billion a year earlier.

iPhone sales reached a quarterly record of $54,25 billion, up 21,7%, while Mac revenue jumped 28,7% to $10,35 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of $1,89 per share on revenue of approximately $109 billion. Customs refunds contributed $0,11 per share to these results.

"Today, Apple is proud to announce our best-ever June quarter, with double-digit revenue growth for iPhone, Mac and Services, in every geographic segment," said Tim Cook, the group's CEO.

This is also his last results call in this role, which he has held for fifteen years. John Ternus, the current head of hardware engineering, will succeed him on September 1st. "I have never had more confidence in his leadership, the management team, and the extraordinary people at Apple," Cook added.

Despite these figures, investors reacted negatively to the group's forecasts for the current quarter. Apple is projecting revenue growth of between 9% and 11%, while analysts were expecting around 12%. The stock fell as much as 8% in after-hours trading before recovering some of the lost ground.

Two factors are weighing on the outlook: rising memory chip costs and shortages of advanced semiconductor production capacity, partly due to the rise of artificial intelligence. Cook described this surge in memory prices as a "once-in-a-century flood" and warned that Apple expects these costs to increase further during the current quarter. The company will also no longer benefit from the tariff refunds that had supported its profit margins.

Apple already announced last month a price increase for certain Mac and iPad models. The iPhone price hasn't been raised yet, but analysts expect it to be later this year. The launch of the new iPhone in September and potential further price hikes should "help cushion the blow," according to Thomas Monteiro, an analyst at Investing.com.

He emphasizes that Apple continues to generate cash without having to make the massive AI investments faced by its Big Tech counterparts, "and this has been evident in most segments of the business." He nevertheless warns that rising memory costs could pose a challenge for the company in the coming quarters. Apple recently reclaimed its title as the world's most valuable publicly traded company from Nvidia.