Apple’s holiday quarter forecast was cautious, predicting low to mid-single-digit growth.
This fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, causing a 1.9% drop in after-hours trading. In Q4, Apple reported a 6% revenue increase to $94.9 billion, surpassing the $94.4 billion estimate. iPhone sales hit $46.2 billion, and services revenue rose 12% to $24.9 billion. Sales in China were flat year-on-year at $15 billion, though this was an improvement over declines seen earlier in 2024.
New AI features launched in its “Apple Intelligence” lineup, including a revamped Siri and AI-powered photo tools, showed early success, as downloads of the latest operating system doubled over last year’s. Apple’s CFO noted that initial iPhone 16 sales exceeded those of the iPhone 15, but it’s unclear if AI will drive significant holiday sales. Apple’s net income was $14.7 billion after a $10.2 billion EU tax-related charge, bringing EPS to $0.97.
The company plans to roll out more AI features this year, including possible ChatGPT integrations. But, both CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri were cautious about AI’s impact on this quarter’s sales.