Expensive memory chips slow things down: New iPhone causes Apple numbers to rise - but the outlook is worse

Although Apple's quarterly figures boast record values, the company's shares are falling after the presentation of the third quarter balance sheet. The background is the poor outlook for the current quarter.

Apple has exceeded market expectations with its first business figures under new CEO John Ternus. iPhone sales and group revenues reached record levels for the September quarter, Ternus said on Monday. However, the US group was disappointed with its outlook for the current quarter. Apple shares therefore fell around four percent in after-hours trading on Wall Street.

However, things have been going well for the company in the past few months. Thanks to high demand for the new top-of-the-range iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, Apple achieved smartphone sales of $57.58 billion, around $1 billion more than analysts predicted.

These figures do not include the iPhone Duo, Apple's first foldable model, as official sales began just a few days ago. With this device, the company is pushing into a niche that has so far been dominated by its South Korean competitor Samsung. However, the first test reports were mixed. Apple is also struggling with quality problems with the screens, which are prone to cracking. However, this only affects a “very small percentage” of the models delivered, emphasized Ternus in an interview with the Reuters news agency. His company is currently unable to meet demand for the duo, which costs around $2,000. "We are working hard to deliver the product to as many customers as quickly as possible."

AI at Apple is less advanced than at the competition

Another reason for Apple's strong business figures is the recent price increases for various products, explained Ternus. The company was reacting to the rapid increase in the cost of memory chips in recent months. The crucial question is how much this will affect demand, said analyst Bob O'Donnell from the research house TECHnalysis. Other smartphone and laptop providers are clearly feeling the effects of customers' reluctance to buy.

When it came to artificial intelligence (AI), Ternus emphasized that he was satisfied with the revised version of the digital assistant Siri. "We rebuilt it from the ground up and now it's the Siri we've always wanted." Portfolio manager Dan Morgan from asset manager Synovus argued that other providers' AI agents were significantly more technologically advanced. "But Apple emphasizes that Siri AI is far more focused on trust and privacy."

Apple's consolidated sales rose surprisingly significantly in the past three months by twelve percent to $114.48 billion. At $10.79 billion, revenue from the sale of MacBook computers also exceeded market expectations by around a billion dollars. The services division, which includes the App Store and the Apple TV+ streaming service, generated record revenue of $31.57 billion. Profits rose 13.5 percent to $2.10 per share. For the full year 2025/2026, consolidated revenues increased by around 15 percent to $478.83 billion and net income increased by more than 20 percent to $8.98 per share.

For the current quarter, Apple forecast slower growth in the service business to eight to nine percent. In the past few months it had increased by almost ten percent. Because memory chip prices continue to rise, the gross margin is likely to shrink to 45 to 46 percent from around 48 percent recently.