Apple Reports Record Ad Gains

Two of the three major Apple devices, where advertisers connect most with consumers, performed well in terms of generating revenue during the second calendar quarter of 2026, end June.

Apple reported stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue for the second calendar-year quarter, driven by a 22% increase in iPhone sales.

Revenue from iPhone for the quarter brought in $54.25 billion vs. the London Stock Exchange (LSEG) Group estimate of $53.86 billion, and revenue from Mac contributed $10.35 billion vs. LSEG $8.74 billion estimate. The iPad revenue came in slightly under expectations from $6.19 billion vs. $6.92 billion, respectively.

Apple's services division, which includes advertising, reached a June quarter record of $30.7 billion in revenue for the Q2 calendar, up 12% year-over-year.

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Ads were a key growth driver supporting App Store and Music, but services slightly missed analyst estimates of $31.2 billion.

"We set records in every category, with June quarter records in advertising, App Store, AppleCare, Apple Music, and Apple TV+, as well as all-time records in cloud services and payment services," Kevan Parekh, Apple CFO, said during the earnings call. "We are optimistic about the long-term future of our services business."

Apple has more than 2.5 billion active devices, and its services continue to attract more customers, Parekh said, adding that the company also passed 1.5 billion paid subscriptions, and transacting and paid accounts reached new all-time highs in the quarter, with double-digit growth for both in emerging markets.

Wall Street analysts estimated Apple would report fiscal third-quarter earnings per share (EPS) for the period ended June 2026 of $1.89 and revenue of $108.65 billion.

Apple beat these consensus estimates by reporting revenue of $109.42 billion an adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.91, unadjusted to $2.02, though its forward revenue guidance fell short of expectations, according to one report.

“Apple is proud to report our strongest June quarter ever, with double-digit revenue growth across iPhone, Mac and Services, and in every geographic segment,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, who is scheduled to step down on September 1, 2026, after 15 years in the position. He will become executive chairman, and John Ternus, the current head of hardware engineering, will take over as CEO.

Cook also called out Apple Intelligence, but the company has taken a slightly different approach than others like Google and Microsoft, which are building out data centers to run and keep up performance of AI.

Cook told CNBC the company has been spending more on AI in general, but rather than spend heavily on data centers, it relies on the phone and Apple Intelligence. The power can come from the devices and Apple’s chips, rather than pulling in the power from the cloud.


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