Quick Stats: Apple FY26 Q4 Earnings Results
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Earnings Date | November 2, 2026, after US market close (results about 3:00 AM IST, call 3:30 AM IST, November 3) |
| Actual Revenue | $114.48B vs $113.38B estimate, beat by 1.0%, up 12% YoY |
| Actual EPS (diluted) | $2.10 vs $1.99 estimate, beat by 5.5%, up 14% YoY, includes $0.05 from tariff refunds |
| Gross Margin | 47.9% vs 47.5% consensus, includes about 1 point from tariff refunds |
| iPhone Revenue | $57.58B, up 17% YoY, September quarter record |
| Services Revenue | $31.57B, up 10% YoY, all-time high, in line with estimate |
| Greater China Revenue | $17.54B, up 21% YoY, vs $18.75B estimate, missed |
| December Quarter Guide | Revenue up 7% to 10% YoY, gross margin 45% to 46% |
| Stock Reaction | About 3% lower after hours, near $328.85 |
Apple FY26 Q4: Result, Stock Reaction and What Actually Happened
Apple released its fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings on November 2, 2026, following the close of regular US trading hours. The release occurred at 4:30 PM ET, with the analyst conference call following at 5:00 PM ET, corresponding to 3:00 AM IST and 3:30 AM IST on November 3 for traders in India. Ahead of the print, we outlined critical hardware metrics and valuation hurdles in our Apple FY26 Q4 earnings preview.
Consolidated revenue reached $114.48 billion, topping the $113.38 billion estimate compiled by Investing.com by 1.0%. Diluted EPS arrived at $2.10, beating the $1.99 consensus by 5.5%. Total revenue grew 12% year on year, exceeding the upper boundary of Apple’s guided 9% to 11% range ($111.7 billion to $113.8 billion).
Despite beating top- and bottom-line estimates, Apple shares slid approximately 3% in extended-hours trading to $328.85, compared to its regular session close of $338.32 on November 2.
The negative reaction was driven primarily by forward profitability guidance: management projected December quarter gross margin between 45% and 46%, falling short of the 46.3% LSEG consensus. The report also marked the inaugural quarterly presentation under CEO John Ternus, who formally succeeded Tim Cook in September.
Apple has now beaten consensus EPS forecasts in five consecutive quarters by an average margin of 5.2%. However, the market has treated headline beats as a baseline expectation, with forward product margins setting the ultimate price trajectory.
The Numbers That Actually Mattered
iPhone Revenue Reached $57.58B (+17% YoY) With Limited iPhone 18 Pro Shelf Time
iPhone segment revenue rose 17% year on year to $57.58 billion from $49.03 billion, beating the $56.5 billion LSEG consensus cited by Reuters by roughly 2%.
This established an all-time September quarter record, despite capturing only eight days of retail availability for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max flagship lines.
The ultra-premium foldable iPhone Duo launched on October 23 at a base price of $1,999, meaning its initial commercial sales fall entirely into the December operating quarter. Following the report, management noted that iPhone Duo production remains supply-constrained, indicating that the December forecast reflects factory capacity limits rather than soft consumer demand.
Across other hardware product lines:
- Mac Revenue: Reached $10.79 billion, expanding 24% year on year.
- iPad Revenue: Came in at $6.23 billion, trailing consensus expectations.
- Wearables, Home and Accessories: Declined 8% year on year to $8.30 billion.
Reported Gross Margin of 47.9% Was Flattered by Tariff Refunds
Reported gross margin finished at 47.9%, surpassing the 47.2% recorded in the prior-year period and beating the 47.5% Street consensus.
However, management confirmed that the figure was flattered by roughly one percentage point of non-operating tariff refunds. Removing this one-time credit leaves underlying operational gross margin near 46.9%, which sits below consensus expectations.
Products gross margin registered at 37.2%, while Services gross margin expanded 40 basis points sequentially to 76.0%. CFO Kevan Parekh explained that after adjusting for tariff refunds across both the June and September periods, company-wide gross margin contracted roughly 100 basis points sequentially, driven primarily by higher memory component costs.
Services Revenue Reached $31.57B, but Annual Growth Moderated to 10%
Services revenue set an all-time company record of $31.57 billion, up 9.8% from $28.75 billion in the prior-year period and matching the $31.58 billion consensus figure cited by Yahoo Finance.
While reaching record absolute scale, annual expansion has decelerated across the fiscal year: from roughly 16% in the March quarter to 12% in the June quarter and 10% in the September quarter.
Forward guidance for the December quarter projects Services growth between 8% and 9%. Because Services delivers high gross margins near 76.0% (compared to 37.2% for hardware products), moderating Services growth limits overall margin expansion while memory pricing continues to rise.
Greater China Revenue Rose 21% to $17.54B but Trailed Consensus
Greater China sales expanded 21% year on year to $17.54 billion, but missed the $18.75 billion consensus cited by Yahoo Finance by roughly 6.5% ($1.21 billion shortfall). Visible Alpha compiled a slightly lower estimate of $18.58 billion, against which the figure represented a 5.6% miss.
By comparison, other geographic regions performed steadily:
- Americas: Grew 10.2% year on year.
- Europe: Expanded 11.5% year on year.
- Rest of Asia Pacific: Rose 15.0% year on year.
- Japan: Contracted 1.4% year on year.
The combination of the Greater China shortfall and softer forward gross margin guidance outweighed the headline beats on revenue and iPhone sales.
Quarterly Trend: Apple
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY Growth | Gross Margin | Diluted EPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY25 Q4 | $102.5B | +8% | 47.2% | $1.85 |
| FY26 Q1 | $143.8B | +16% | 48.2% | $2.84 |
| FY26 Q2 | $111.2B | +17% | 49.3% | $2.01 |
| FY26 Q3 | $109.4B | +16% | 50.1%* | $2.02 |
| FY26 Q4 | $114.5B | +12% | 47.9%* | $2.10 |
*FY26 Q3 gross margin included about 2 points and FY26 Q4 about 1 point from tariff refunds. Source: Apple earnings releases (SEC Form 8-K). FY26 Q1 gross margin of 48.2% is derived from Apple’s statement that the FY26 Q2 margin of 49.3% was up 110 basis points sequentially.
Revenue growth has slowed from 17% in FY26 Q2 to 12% in FY26 Q4, although it remained above the 9% to 11% range Apple had guided for the quarter. EPS growth slowed from 29% in FY26 Q3 to 14% in FY26 Q4 as the tariff refund benefit shrank from $0.11 to $0.05 per share. Excluding the refunds, gross margin was roughly 48.1% in the June quarter and 46.9% in the September quarter (our calculation), so the margin compression visible in the guide had already started before the December quarter.
What Management Said and What It Changes
During the conference call, CEO John Ternus and CFO Kevan Parekh focused on supply-chain bottlenecks, component inflation, and generative AI monetization:
- Unprecedented Memory Price Increases: In his first call as chief executive, John Ternus characterized current memory market pricing as “unprecedented,” stating that Apple anticipates higher memory component costs in the December quarter and expects price pressures to continue into calendar 2027. Management highlighted that selective hardware price adjustments taken in June and September, combined with carry-in component inventory, only partially mitigated these headwinds.
- Siri AI Infrastructure Costs: CFO Kevan Parekh confirmed that the December quarter gross margin outlook incorporates elevated operational expenses related to scaling Siri AI server clusters. CEO John Ternus added that users requiring higher computational bandwidth for server-side generative AI features will have the option to purchase expanded cloud access tiers, pointing toward a future paid Services revenue stream.
- Largest Mac Education Deal: Ternus said Apple recently secured its “biggest education deal ever for Mac” with the Philippines Department of Education (DepEd). DepEd is buying 172,654 MacBook Neo laptops, which Ternus rounded to 170,000, for 169,008 teachers and 3,646 administrative staff. Each unit costs about ₱43,000, which covers software, delivery, training and a five-year warranty. DepEd says that is ₱6,900 below the ₱49,900 suggested retail price. Deliveries run from November 2026 to March 2027.
- Operating Cash Flow and Capital Returns: Apple generated $28.10 billion in operating cash flow during the quarter. The board of directors declared a cash dividend of $0.27 per share, payable on November 16 to shareholders of record as of November 12. Full-year fiscal 2026 revenue reached an all-time record of $478.80 billion, representing 15% year-on-year growth.
The DepEd order matters more for the Mac installed base than for the income statement. DepEd has not disclosed the contract value, but 172,654 units at about ₱43,000 each comes to roughly ₱7.4 billion. That is about $115 million to $130 million, depending on the exchange rate used (our estimate). The order equals around 1% of this quarter’s $10.79 billion Mac revenue and about 0.1% of total revenue, and it should be recognized across the December and March quarters as units ship. Timing also matters. Apple expects Mac supply to stay constrained in the December quarter, when the first DepEd deliveries are due. A discounted order that bundles a five-year warranty also likely earns a thinner margin than a retail sale.
Guidance: December Quarter (FY27 Q1)
| Guidance Metric | Apple Guidance | Reference Point | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenue growth | 7% to 10% YoY | 6.1% average estimate (LSEG) | Above |
| Implied revenue | $153.8B to $158.1B | About $152.0B to $153.4B consensus (Investing.com, iThinkDiff) | Above |
| Services revenue growth | 8% to 9% YoY | 9.8% growth in FY26 Q4 | Slower |
| Gross margin | 45% to 46% | 46.3% average estimate (LSEG) | Below |
Implied revenue is our calculation on the year-ago December quarter revenue of $143.76B.
The revenue guide is the more constructive half of the outlook. Parekh said Apple expects the December quarter to be the best for revenue in the company’s history and that the range reflects Apple’s best view of constrained supply. The margin guide is the weaker half. A midpoint of 45.5% sits about 1.4 points below the underlying 46.9% from this quarter (our calculation), which means revenue growth is not expected to convert into proportional profit growth, and that gap is the most likely reason for the after-hours decline.
How Apple FY26 Q4 Earnings Impact the Stock: Trader’s Takeaway
Apple’s FY26 Q4 report leaves the stock in a position where the next move depends on whether traders read the 45% to 46% margin guide as cautious or as the new baseline. After-hours trading valued Apple near $328.85, roughly 3% below the November 2 close.
Bullish Case
If traders treat the margin guide as cautious, the revenue guide and the supply-constrained iPhone Duo launch give the stock room to recover. Apple guided revenue growth above consensus despite supply limits, and price increases plus carry-in inventory are already offsetting part of the memory cost. The first level to reclaim is the November 2 close of $338.32, followed by the October 30 close of $344.63, and then JPMorgan’s $360 target, which the firm kept in a note dated November 1 ahead of the report. The DepEd order also adds a longer-term point in Apple’s favor. DepEd’s contracted teacher laptops now cover roughly one in four of the Philippines’ nearly 900,000 public school teachers. The government has also pledged a laptop for every teacher by 2028, which leaves room for follow-on orders, although Apple is not guaranteed to win them.
Bearish Case
If memory costs keep rising, the 45% to 46% range could prove to be a ceiling rather than a floor, because Ternus said memory prices should keep increasing beyond December. The first level to watch is the $329.22 support trigger that Tradingpedia flagged on October 6, which sits at the after-hours price, so the next regular session will show whether it holds. Loop Capital was already cautious on December units before the report, having downgraded Apple to Hold on October 20 and cut its price target to $330 from $370, with a forecast of 79 million iPhones for the December quarter against 85 million previously expected, according to iThinkDiff. A close below $329.22 on volume would suggest the market is cutting earnings estimates rather than reacting to a one-session move.
For Indian traders, the results arrived at approximately 3:00 AM IST on November 3, well before Indian equity markets opened at 9:15 AM IST, and the first full US regular session after the report began at 8:00 PM IST.
Earnings Surprise History
Apple has beaten EPS estimates in 5 of the last 5 quarters, with an average surprise of 5.2%, and this quarter’s 5.5% beat sits close to that average.
| Quarter | Actual EPS | Consensus EPS | Surprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY25 Q4 | $1.85 | $1.78 | +3.9% |
| FY26 Q1 | $2.84 | $2.67 | +6.4% |
| FY26 Q2 | $2.01 | $1.95 | +3.1% |
| FY26 Q3 | $2.02 | $1.89 | +6.9% |
| FY26 Q4 | $2.10 | $1.99 | +5.5% |
Consensus sources: TipRanks (FY25 Q4), 247WallSt (FY26 Q1), SiliconANGLE (FY26 Q2), Investing.com (FY26 Q3 and Q4). Data vendors differ (FY26 Q2 consensus ranged from $1.93 to $1.96), so surprises may vary slightly elsewhere.
The quality of this quarter’s beat is lower than the headline suggests, because $0.05 of the $2.10 came from tariff refunds. Excluding them, EPS was $2.05, a 3.0% beat. The FY26 Q3 beat carried a larger refund benefit of $0.11 per share, which would put underlying EPS at $1.91, only marginally above the $1.89 estimate (our calculation, assuming analysts did not include refunds in their estimates). Underlying surprises have therefore been thinner than reported in both of the last two quarters.
How to Trade US Stock Futures from India on CoinDCX
Follow the steps below to start trading US stock futures:
- Open the CoinDCX App: Launch the official application on your mobile device.
- Log In to Your Account: Authenticate your verified CoinDCX account credentials.
- Fund Your Futures Wallet in INR: Deposit Indian rupees directly into your US Stock Futures wallet with zero currency conversion steps.
- Locate the Contract: Search for AAPL within the US Stock Futures product tab.
- Set Position Parameters: Select a Long or Short position based on your technical read, adjust your desired margin and leverage, and place your order.
- Manage Risk: Monitor the position as post-earnings price volatility typically extends over a 24- to 72-hour window.
Read our detailed tutorial: How to Trade on US Stocks Movements from India
Disclaimer
This article has been prepared by the CoinDCX Research Team for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or trading advice. All data and figures cited are sourced from publicly available information including Apple’s investor relations materials, SEC filings, and third-party financial sources at the time of publication. Figures described as our calculation are derived from the reported numbers and should be verified before use. Past performance of any stock, including Apple, is not indicative of future results. Trading US Stock Futures involves risk, including the risk of loss of capital. Please conduct your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any trading or investment decisions. CoinDCX is not liable for any trading decisions made based on the content of this article.
FAQs
Did Apple beat earnings in FY26 Q4?
Yes, Apple beat Wall Street estimates on both revenue and earnings. Consolidated revenue reached $114.48 billion against a $113.38 billion consensus (up 12% YoY), while diluted EPS finished at $2.10 versus $1.99 expected. Results were supported by a $0.05 contribution from tariff refunds and a 17% increase in iPhone revenue to $57.58 billion.
What was Apple's revenue in FY26 Q4?
Apple's FY26 Q4 revenue was $114.48B, up 12% from $102.5B a year earlier and a September quarter record. iPhone contributed $57.58B, Services $31.57B, Mac $10.79B, Wearables, Home and Accessories $8.3B, and iPad $6.23B. Fiscal 2026 revenue reached a record $478.8B, up 15% year on year.
What is the outlook after Apple FY26 Q4 earnings?
Apple guided December quarter revenue growth between 7% and 10% year on year, clearing the 6.1% analyst average, alongside Services growth of 8% to 9%. However, gross margin was guided to between 45% and 46%, trailing the 46.3% consensus due to rising memory component pricing and infrastructure investments supporting Siri AI.
Why did Apple stock fall after FY26 Q4 earnings?
Apple shares declined roughly 3% in after-hours trading primarily because its December quarter gross margin guidance of 45% to 46% fell below the 46.3% analyst benchmark. Additionally, reported gross margins were flattered by roughly one percentage point of one-off tariff refunds, while Greater China revenue of $17.54 billion missed the $18.75 billion Street estimate.
What is Apple’s DepEd deal?
Apple’s DepEd deal is an order from the Philippines Department of Education for 172,654 MacBook Neo laptops for public school teachers and staff, which CEO John Ternus called Apple’s biggest education deal ever for Mac. DepEd is paying about ₱43,000 per unit, or roughly ₱7.4 billion in total, with deliveries running from November 2026 to March 2027.
