Apple
The California company behind the iPhone: it designs phones, computers and watches, writes their software, and sells apps, storage and services to the people who own them.
The scores
Growth3/4 ↑
Revenue grew 14.2% over four quarters after about 3.3% a year from 2021 to 2025, so the faster pace is under two years old.
Business quality4/4 →
A regulator finds owners unlikely to switch, and Apple gained phone share in 2026's shrinking market against Samsung and Huawei.
Financial position4/4 →
About $62.2B of net cash and $146.7B of operating cash flow a year; nothing needs outside money.
Execution record3/4 →
Eight straight EPS beats, but Siri AI arrived two years after it was first promised and is still not offered in the EU.
Per share capture4/4 →
Buybacks far exceed stock pay and diluted shares fell 12.7% since 2021, with no convertibles.
Potential2/4 →
The iPhone already takes about 40% of phone spending, so more growth rests on new devices and paid AI nobody has measured.
Risk profile3/4 →
Google's search payments ride on an appeal, App Store fees on several courts, and Greater China on Huawei; each survivable alone.
Valuation2/4 ↓
At 39 times profit the price needs 11.6% yearly growth for ten years, above the 9.8% since 2021 and the analysts' 9.9%.
Evidence quality3/4 →
Filed figures carry the argument, but the price test rests on a chosen future price for profit, and the new lines on management and IDC.
If it works 1.0× · if it fails you keep about 96%.
The Verdict
We rate Apple neutral. The business is strong: owners rarely switch to Android, and Services earns 42% of the gross profit. The price is full: it needs profit per share to grow nearly 12% a year for a decade, faster than Apple managed since 2021. As a bet on the foldable and the other new lines it is expensive: even a strong start would add little to a company this large, though owners lose little if the lines fail. What would move us is a lower price, or proof that the new lines lift profit growth.
The long caseIf a folding iPhone becomes the phone people want at the top, Apple sells it for about two thirds more than a Pro to buyers it already has.
The evidence under this - 5 claims
The same designation lets the regulator impose conduct rules on the App Store and payments, which can lower what Apple earns from the users it keeps.
- Services margin fell 1.1 points sequentially to 75.6% in Q3 2026 on mix, the call said.
- Part of Services profit is Google's search payment, which a court remedy could end.
- A sale at 35 times earnings, near today, would cut the needed growth to about 10.2% a year.
- Earnings include tariff refunds and a 17.9% Q3 tax rate; without the refunds the multiple is a little higher.
- Fiscal 2024 carried a $10.2B one-time EU tax charge, so the path between the two ends was uneven.
- The trailing figure includes the tariff refunds, at least $0.11 a share in Q3 2026.
- 'By 2027' reads as a total over about fifteen months, not a yearly rate, so a yearly figure would be lower.
- Many foldable buyers would otherwise buy a $1,199 Pro, so only the difference is new revenue for Apple.
The company
Apple designs the iPhone, the Mac, the iPad and the Apple Watch, and writes the software that runs on all of them. Outside factories build the devices. The iPhone brings in about half of all revenue.
Once someone owns an Apple device, Apple sells them more: apps, cloud storage, music and video, repairs cover and payments. Management counts over 2.5 billion devices in use and 1.5 billion paid subscriptions.
The evidence under this - 3 claims
Apple defines neither count in a filing and gives no churn rate; a person with several devices counts several times.
How it makes money
Most of the money comes from selling devices once. In fiscal 2025 the iPhone brought in $209.6B of $416.2B. Services is a quarter of sales but keeps far more of each dollar: a 75.4% gross margin against 36.8% on devices, so it earns 42% of the gross profit. Services includes Google's payments to be the search engine on Apple devices, AppleCare, iCloud and the App Store.
The evidence under this - 4 claims
- Services margin fell 1.1 points sequentially to 75.6% in Q3 2026 on mix, the call said.
- Part of Services profit is Google's search payment, which a court remedy could end.
- Apple does not split Services by line, so the share that is Google's payment or App Store commission is not disclosed.
- The CFO cited softer mobile gaming on the App Store in Q3 2026.
Where the money comes from, stream by stream
| Stream | Share of sales (four quarters to Q3 2026) | How it earns it |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone | 52.6% | Phones sold directly and through carriers and retailers, about 230 million a year, from about $599 to $1,999. |
| Services | 25.8% | App Store commissions, Google's search licensing, iCloud, AppleCare, music and video, and Apple Pay. |
| Wearables, Home and Accessories | 7.8% | Apple Watch, AirPods, Apple TV, HomePod, now HomeView, and accessories. |
| Mac | 7.7% | Laptops and desktops, including the low-priced MacBook Neo sold to schools. |
| iPad | 6.1% | Tablets, whose prices rose with memory costs. |
Who runs it
John Ternus, who ran hardware engineering, became chief executive on 1 September 2026, with Tim Cook as executive chair. Most of Ternus's award is shares that vest only if Apple beats the S&P 500. Cook's cash bonus pays on sales and operating profit. Directors and officers own under 0.1% of the company. Insiders sold shares and bought none over the year, mostly under pre-set plans.
The evidence under this - 3 claims
Levinson, chair until September 2026, sold under 7.3% of the 4,126,689 shares the proxy listed for him; a single sale says little about the price.
Why it wins, and who could beat it
Why customers come back
Owners stay. The UK competition regulator studied phone buyers and found they are unlikely to switch between Apple and Android, and that AI is unlikely to change that within five years. Photos, messages, apps and paid plans all live inside Apple's system, so leaving means rebuilding a digital life.
That loyalty shows up from outside: IDC counts iPhone shipments up 14.9% in Q2 2026 while the whole phone market fell 7.4%.
The evidence under this - 4 claims
Apple defines neither count in a filing and gives no churn rate; a person with several devices counts several times.
The same designation lets the regulator impose conduct rules on the App Store and payments, which can lower what Apple earns from the users it keeps.
IDC attributes part of the gain to buyers moving ahead of price rises, which can reverse.
- Apple does not split Services by line, so the share that is Google's payment or App Store commission is not disclosed.
- The CFO cited softer mobile gaming on the App Store in Q3 2026.
The threat
Samsung ships more phones than Apple, and Xiaomi and Huawei sell cheaper ones; Huawei is gaining in China, where Apple's sales fell in fiscal 2025 before recovering this year. Alphabet runs Android, the system on most other phones, and sells its own Pixel. The sharper threat may be regulators: courts and the EU are forcing Apple to let app makers take payment outside its store.
The evidence under this - 4 claims
Android shipments are forecast to fall 24.3% in 2026 while iOS falls 1.3%, so the rivals are losing ground in total.
The 10-Q credits iPhone and a stronger renminbi, and Huawei's HarmonyOS is forecast to nearly triple, so the gain may not hold.
Alphabet also pays Apple for search on the iPhone, so it gains from iPhone users as well as competing for them.
The rivals: GOOGL, MSFT, HPQ, DELL, AMZN, and 3 more that are private, in-house or listed abroad.
Who else does this, rival by rival
| Ticker | Rival | Where it competes | How far along | Priced against it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung and Xiaomi Android phonesPriced against it: Listed abroad | iPhone | On sale | Listed abroad | |
| Private | Huawei phones on HarmonyOSPriced against it: Private | iPhone | On sale | Private |
| GOOGL | Google's Android and Pixel phonesPriced against it: Different product | iPhone | On sale | Different product |
| MSFT · HPQ · DELL | Windows PCs and ChromebooksPriced against it: Different product | Mac, iPad and Wearables, Home and Accessories | On sale | Different product |
| Not listed | Outside payment links and rival app stores forced by courts and regulatorsPriced against it: Not listed | Services | On sale | Not listed |
| AMZN · GOOGL | Samsung foldables, and Amazon Echo Show and Google Nest Hub home displaysPriced against it: Different product | New lines: iPhone Duo, HomeView and paid AI | On sale | Different product |
How big it could get
How big this could get
IDC expects phones worldwide to be worth about $613B in 2026, even as fewer are sold, because the average price is rising fast. Apple's iPhone revenue over the last four quarters was $245.5B, so Apple already takes a large share of the money in the market it sells into. The room to grow is in price and in services, not in many more phones.
The evidence under this - 2 claims
IDC cut its 2026 unit forecast from a 13.9% fall to 16.7% in one quarter, so the figures are moving fast.
Where the growth is coming from, business by business
Where the growth is coming from
| Business | Share of revenue | Growth: last quarter | Last half-year | Last year | Share in 3 years at its half-year rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone | 50% | +21.7% | +21.7% | +18.7% | 56% |
| Services | 28% | +12.1% | +14.1% | +14.3% | 26% |
| Mac, iPad and Wearables, Home and Accessories | 22% | +10.9% | +8.5% | +4.5% | 18% |
| Whole company | 100% | +16.4% | +16.5% | +14.2% | 100% |
On the filed split through 2026-06-27, if each business keeps its last half-year's growth, the company grows about 17% next year and 17% in year 3, against 14.2% over the last twelve months. A scenario, not a forecast: no business holds its rate.
The results
The numbers
Sales grew 14% over the twelve months to Jun 2026, faster than the 6.4% in the year to Sep 2025.
Operating margin is 33%, up from 30% in the year to Sep 2023.
Running costs take 15¢ of each sales dollar, up from 12¢ in the year to Sep 2021.
Each dollar put into the business earns 74% a year after tax, up from 53% in the year to Sep 2021.
It turned 29% of sales into free cash, $137B over the last twelve months.
It owes $19.9B more than the cash it holds, about 0.1 years of the cash its operations bring in.
The share count fell 13% in 4.8 years, and pay in shares costs 2.9% of sales.
All the numbers
Filed figures from the company's 10-K and 10-Q, read 2026-10-18. Fiscal years end in September.
| Sep 2021 | Sep 2022 | Sep 2023 | Sep 2024 | Sep 2025 | 12 mo to Jun 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Size and growth | ||||||
| Sales | $366B | $394B | $383B | $391B | $416B | $467B |
| Sales growth | +33% | +7.8% | −2.8% | +2.0% | +6.4% | +14% |
| Profit | ||||||
| Gross margin | 42% | 43% | 44% | 46% | 47% | 49% |
| Operating margin | 30% | 30% | 30% | 32% | 32% | 33% |
| Net margin | 26% | 25% | 25% | 24% | 27% | 28% |
| What growth costs, per sales dollar | ||||||
| Research and development | 6.0% | 6.7% | 7.8% | 8.0% | 8.3% | 9.2% |
| Sales and marketing | - | - | 4.8% | 4.8% | 4.7% | 4.4% |
| General and admin | - | - | 1.7% | 1.9% | 1.9% | 1.9% |
| Pay in shares | 2.2% | 2.3% | 2.8% | 3.0% | 3.1% | 2.9% |
| Capital spending | 3.0% | 2.7% | 2.9% | 2.4% | 3.1% | 2.2% |
| Cash | ||||||
| Cash from operations | $104B | $122B | $111B | $118B | $111B | $147B |
| Free cash flow | $93.0B | $111B | $99.6B | $109B | $98.8B | $137B |
| Balance sheet | ||||||
| Cash and short-term investments | $62.6B | $48.3B | $61.6B | $65.2B | $54.7B | $62.4B |
| Debt | $119B | $110B | $105B | $96.7B | $90.7B | $82.3B |
| Net cash | −$56.1B | −$61.8B | −$43.5B | −$31.5B | −$36.0B | −$19.9B |
| Returns and shares | ||||||
| Return on capital | 53% | 58% | 59% | 58% | 71% | 74% |
| Shares (diluted) | 16.9B | 16.3B | 15.8B | 15.4B | 15.0B | 14.7B |
What growth costs
Growth has cost Apple little. From fiscal 2021 the share of sales kept as gross profit rose from 41.8% to 48.7% and operating profit from 29.8% to 33.2%, because Services grew faster than devices. Research is now rising faster than sales as Apple builds AI computing, which is the one cost to watch.
The evidence under this - 3 claims
The trailing margin includes the tariff refunds, about 2 points of Q3 2026's gross margin.
- Fiscal 2024 carried a $10.2B one-time EU tax charge, so the path between the two ends was uneven.
- The trailing figure includes the tariff refunds, at least $0.11 a share in Q3 2026.
The last report (30 Jul)
Quarter ended June 2026, filed figures.
Revenue in the quarter to June 2026 rose 16% to $109.4B. iPhone sales grew 22%, Mac 29% and Services 12%, and sales in Greater China grew 22%. Research spending rose 32%, mostly on AI computing.
The profit was flattered: about 2 points of the 50.1% gross margin and $0.11 of the $2.02 earnings per share were one-off tariff refunds. Apple guided the next quarter to 9% to 11% growth and a lower margin.
What it did to the thesisIt showed the business growing faster than in years, which argues against us. But part of the profit was one-off, the next quarter's guide is slower and lower, and the price had already risen further than the profit. The view stays neutral.
The quarter in detail
Sales growth from the previous quarter, filed figures.
Earnings per share $2.02 against $1.89 expected; $2.02 as filed, with no adjustments.
The evidence under this - 5 claims
The CFO said supply limited the quarter and will limit the next one more, so part of the iPhone gain was pulled forward ahead of price rises, as IDC also says.
- An analyst noted margin was about 48% without refunds in Q3 and the guide implies about 46.5%; the CFO put more than all of the fall on memory costs.
- Apple has beaten the EPS estimate in each of the last eight quarters, so the guide has tended to be cautious.
The 10-Q credits iPhone and a stronger renminbi, and Huawei's HarmonyOS is forecast to nearly triple, so the gain may not hold.
What management did with the money
Apple hands most of its cash back. In fiscal 2025 it bought back $89.3B of its own shares and paid $15.4B in dividends, far more than the $13.7B a year it pays staff in shares. It still holds about $62.2B more cash than debt.
Insiders in 2026Q3: 9 purchases and 10 sales, from their Form 4 filings.
The evidence under this - 2 claims
The price, and where we disagree
In short. Full. A business this good deserves a premium, but paying this much per dollar of profit needs profit per share to grow faster for ten years than it has since 2021.
The shares rose 38% in a year, mostly because buyers pay more for each dollar of sales rather than because sales grew that much.
The foldable iPhone Duo goes on sale on 23 October at $1,999. A report says Apple cut iPhone 18 Pro part orders on weaker demand and dearer memory, and the chief executive called memory prices a once-in-a-century flood. The next test is fourth-quarter results due by 2 November, against a guide of 9% to 11% growth.
The evidence under this - 5 claims
Apple did not comment; the same report notes the standard iPhone and Air move to early next year, which shifts parts orders later rather than cutting them.
IDC finds the memory squeeze favouring premium makers such as Apple, whose Q2 2026 shipments grew 14.9% while the market fell 7.4%.
- An analyst noted margin was about 48% without refunds in Q3 and the guide implies about 46.5%; the CFO put more than all of the fall on memory costs.
- Apple has beaten the EPS estimate in each of the last eight quarters, so the guide has tended to be cautious.
How we read the multiple
Investors pay about $5,012.5B for the company. What has to be true:
1. Profit over the last year was $128.9B, so the price is 39.2 times profit. 2. A buyer wanting 9% a year who sells in ten years at Apple's usual 30.9 times needs profit per share to grow about 11.6% a year. 3. It grew 9.8% a year since 2021, and analysts expect about 9.9% to 2028.
For a business this safe that is full rather than silly, but it leaves little room for disappointment.
Against its own history. The price per dollar of profit is well above Apple's own recent normal, so buyers are paying for faster growth than the business has shown.
The evidence under this - 4 claims
- A sale at 35 times earnings, near today, would cut the needed growth to about 10.2% a year.
- Earnings include tariff refunds and a 17.9% Q3 tax rate; without the refunds the multiple is a little higher.
Services is a larger share of profit than five years ago, which can justify part of a higher multiple.
- Fiscal 2024 carried a $10.2B one-time EU tax charge, so the path between the two ends was uneven.
- The trailing figure includes the tariff refunds, at least $0.11 a share in Q3 2026.
Estimates have risen with each beat; Apple beat the EPS estimate in each of the last eight quarters.
Priced against its rivals
None of the listed rivals above sells the same thing to the same buyers as a large part of what it does. A price comparison needs at least two, so the price is judged against its own history instead.
Private or foreign rivals that cannot be priced: Samsung Electronics, Xiaomi, Huawei.
The bet: what it pays if it works
The bet is on Apple's new lines: the foldable iPhone Duo, the HomeView home display and paid AI features. None reports revenue yet.
Counting the rest of Apple at a fair price leaves only part of today's price for these lines, and even IDC's strong forecast for the foldable adds little to a company this large. It is an expensive bet, but owners lose little if the lines fail.
| New lines: iPhone Duo, HomeView and paid AI revenue in two to three years | Foldable iPhones needed | At the stated multiple |
|---|---|---|
| $20.00B | about 10.0M at 100% kept | 1.0× |
| $45.70B (the big win) | about 22.9M at 100% kept | 1.0× |
| $70.00B | about 35.0M at 100% kept | 1.1× |
To pay 2× (a Fair bet) it would need about $615.59B of New lines: iPhone Duo, HomeView and paid AI revenue (about 307.9M foldable iPhones); to pay 5× (a Cheap bet), about $2.38T of New lines: iPhone Duo, HomeView and paid AI revenue (about 1.2B foldable iPhones), at the same multiple.
Each row is New lines: iPhone Duo, HomeView and paid AI alone, plus the rest of the company (iPhone, Services, Mac, iPad and wearables as reported) counted at about $4.79T.
The steps it has to take
- Done iPhone Duo announced at $1,999 with pre-orders from October 16
- In progress iPhone Duo on sale in more than 70 countries due 2026-10-31
- Not started Siri AI out of beta with a priced iCloud+ upgrade due 2027-06-30
- Not started IDC counts more than 5 million foldable iPhones shipped due 2027-09-30
- Not started Foldable iPhone value reaches IDC's $45.7B due 2027-12-31
The detail behind the label
The evidence under this - 4 claims
- 'By 2027' reads as a total over about fifteen months, not a yearly rate, so a yearly figure would be lower.
- Many foldable buyers would otherwise buy a $1,199 Pro, so only the difference is new revenue for Apple.
Estimates have risen with each beat; Apple beat the EPS estimate in each of the last eight quarters.
Services is a larger share of profit than five years ago, which can justify part of a higher multiple.
Where we disagree with the market
Apple is a winner of dearer phones and AI, and the foldable starts a new upgrade cycle.
Apple is a superb business growing near 10% a year, priced as if it will grow faster for a decade.
Buyers have raised what they pay for each dollar of sales, while fewer analysts rate the shares a buy. The price now needs growth Apple has not shown since 2021.
The evidence against us is real: revenue grew 16% last quarter and the foldable is new. If profit per share grows 12% or more in fiscal 2027, the price is earned.
What analysts say, and the evidence
The evidence under this - 6 claims
- A sale at 35 times earnings, near today, would cut the needed growth to about 10.2% a year.
- Earnings include tariff refunds and a 17.9% Q3 tax rate; without the refunds the multiple is a little higher.
- Fiscal 2024 carried a $10.2B one-time EU tax charge, so the path between the two ends was uneven.
- The trailing figure includes the tariff refunds, at least $0.11 a share in Q3 2026.
The CFO said supply limited the quarter and will limit the next one more, so part of the iPhone gain was pulled forward ahead of price rises, as IDC also says.
- 'By 2027' reads as a total over about fifteen months, not a yearly rate, so a yearly figure would be lower.
- Many foldable buyers would otherwise buy a $1,199 Pro, so only the difference is new revenue for Apple.
What could go wrong, and how we would know
The risks
- Memory costs. Memory chip prices are surging; Apple raised prices and expects shortages to worsen, which could squeeze margins or units.
- Google's payments. A court could bar Google from paying to be the search engine on Apple devices, a payment inside Services.
- App Store rules. Courts in the US and the EU are forcing Apple to let app makers take payment outside its store.
- A large patent verdict. A jury found Apple owes Taction more than $5.7B for haptic patents; Apple is appealing.
- A price built on hope. Most of the past year's rise came from buyers paying more per dollar of sales, which can reverse.
The evidence under this - 6 claims
IDC finds the memory squeeze favouring premium makers such as Apple, whose Q2 2026 shipments grew 14.9% while the market fell 7.4%.
The remedies in force let the payments continue, and Apple does not disclose their size.
Android shipments are forecast to fall 24.3% in 2026 while iOS falls 1.3%, so the rivals are losing ground in total.
What we still do not know
- How many foldable iPhones sell at $1,999, and whether they replace iPhone sales or add to them.
- What Apple will charge for paid AI features, and what the computing behind them costs.
- Whether the HomeView display sells at all; Apple gives no figures.
The evidence under this - 3 claims
No revenue from Apple Intelligence is disclosed, and the 10-Q lists AI launch limits in some jurisdictions as a risk.
What would change our view
- Neutral→AttractiveA lower price on unchanged growth
It needs all of:
- ○The shares fall to 31 times the last year's profit, with profit per share still growing near 10%.about $271.61 today, 21% below the last close
- ○Gross margin in the fourth quarter, leaving out tariff refunds, is 46% or more.checked at the next results, due by 2 Nov
- Neutral→AttractiveGrowth that outruns the price
It needs all of:
- ○Profit per share grows 12% or more in fiscal 2027.checked at the next results, due by 2 Nov
- ○Services sales grow 14% or more in fiscal 2027.checked at the next results, due by 2 Nov
We would also be wrong if
- Gross margin without tariff refunds falls below 45% for two quarters running.
- Services sales grow less than 10% in any quarter of fiscal 2027.
- A court bars Google from paying Apple to be the default search engine.
What is coming
- 2 November 2026 Q4 2026 results and the December-quarter guide: Whether gross margin without refunds holds near 46.5% to 47% and how the guide reads iPhone 18 Pro and Duo demand.
Every dated event ahead
- 2 November 2026 Q4 2026 results and the December-quarter guide: Whether gross margin without refunds holds near 46.5% to 47% and how the guide reads iPhone 18 Pro and Duo demand.
- 29 January 2027 Q1 2027 results, the first quarter of foldable sales: Whether iPhone revenue grows with the Duo on sale and memory costs at their peak.
- 30 June 2027 Supreme Court ruling on the Epic contempt standard: How freely developers can send iPhone users to pay outside the App Store, and what commission Apple keeps.
Since we wrote this
- 18 OctThesis writtenNeutral, medium convictionWritten about two weeks before Q4 2026 results, after the shares rose 38% in a year and the foldable went on pre-order.
Also checked 1 time with nothing new to act on.
Sources 19
Sources - 19
Every claim above cites one of these, or states the reasoning that derived it. The quote is frozen at the date it was read: a link can rot, and an agent fetch returns a reading of a page rather than the page. Backs counts the whole claim ledger, so it can name a claim this page does not surface.
- S01primarycompany filing2025-10-31business description, revenue and gross margin by category, geographic segments, competition, risk factors, share repurchases, debt, headcountbacksC01C02C08C09C10C15C16C33C37C38C40
- S02primarycompany filing2026-07-31Q3 and nine-month revenue by category and region, gross margin, tariff refunds, cash, debt, buybacks, receivables concentration, purchase obligations, legal proceedings and new risk factorsbacksC04C05C07C08C09C10C11C15C16C17C18C19C22C32C33C36C37C38C39C40
- S03primarycompany release2026-07-30the quarter's headline figures, the tariff-refund effect on margin and EPS, the dividend
Company gross margin was 50.1 percent, including a favorable impact of approximately 2 percentage points from tariff refunds. Diluted earnings per share was $2.02, up 29 percent year over year, and included a favorable impact of $0.11 from tariff refunds.
backsC04C05 - S04primarytranscript2026-07-30Apple Q3 fiscal 2026 earnings call transcript, held July 30, 2026September-quarter guidance, memory costs and price rises, supply constraints, installed base and paid subscriptions, Siri AI and compute, China and EU AI approvals, MacBook Neo in education; questions from Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and others
Our installed base of over two and a half billion active devices has reached another all-time high ... we now have surpassed one and a half billion in paid subscriptions. ... we're in what I would characterize as a 100-year flood on the memory pricing, with exponential increases in memory prices. ... We expect gross margin to be between 47%-48%. This includes an expected benefit of approximately one percentage point related to tariff refunds.
backsC03C05C06C07C32C36 - S05primarycompany release2025-10-30the full-year results release beside the annual report: Q4 fiscal 2025 revenue and EPS
The Company posted quarterly revenue of $102.5 billion, up 8 percent year over year. Diluted earnings per share was $1.85, up 13 percent year over year on an adjusted basis.
read, but no claim rests on it - S06primarycompany filing2026-01-08beneficial ownership, executive pay, the relative TSR design and the cash incentive measuresbacksC26
- S07primarycompany filing2026-04-20Ternus named chief executive from September 1, 2026; Cook executive chair; Levinson lead independent directorbacksC25
- S08primarycompany filing2026-09-01Ternus's salary and fiscal 2027 equity award and its performance termsbacksC25
- S09primaryregulator2025-10-22UK Competition and Markets Authority: Apple and Google have strategic market status in mobile platforms UK Competition and Markets Authoritya regulator's finding on switching between Apple and Android, and on AI as a threat
UK mobile device holders use either Apple or Google’s mobile platform and are unlikely to switch between them, remaining either an ‘Apple’ or ‘Android’ user. ... Ongoing technological developments, particularly involving AI, are unlikely to eliminate Apple or Google’s market power over the five-year designation period.
backsC12 - S10primaryindustry data2026-08-28IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Q2 2026 final results, release of August 28, 2026 International Data Corporation (IDC)Q2 2026 smartphone shipments and share by maker, measured outside the companies
Samsung 62.7 22.7% 58.0 19.4% 8.1% Apple 55.7 20.2% 48.5 16.3% 14.9% Xiaomi 31.2 11.3% 42.4 14.2% -26.4% ... Total 276.3 100.0% 298.3 100.0% -7.4% ... keeping Apple on track for a record 22% annual share this year.
backsC13C34 - S11primaryindustry data2026-09-17IDC smartphone forecast: shipments set for record 16.7% drop in 2026 International Data Corporation (IDC)2026 units, average price and market value; iOS and Android shares; HarmonyOS growth; foldable forecasts
worldwide smartphone shipments will fall 16.7% in 2026 to just over 1 billion units. ... Total market value will still grow 6.3% to $613 billion ... The average selling price of a smartphone will reach $581 in 2026, up 27.6% in a single year ... iOS share does the opposite trend, increasing almost four percentage points from last year to record high 23.6% share ... HarmonyOS sees strong growth, although coming off a small base, nearly tripling to 51 million units in 2026 ... Foldables remain the only silver lining, forecast to grow 12.6% YoY boosted by Apple’s entry ... We forecast Apple will ship more than 17 million foldable iPhones by 2027, capturing roughly 40% of the global foldables market. With an average selling price exceeding $2,550, Apple is expected to generate more than $45.7 billion in value ... Apple is positioned to challenge Huawei and Samsung for leadership in markets where they have long dominated
backsC14C28C34 - S12primarycompany release2026-09-09the foldable's price, dates and countries
iPhone Duo is available in star white and night sky, and starts at $1,999 (U.S.), or $83.29 (U.S.) per month for 24 months, in 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB storage capacities.
backsC27 - S13primarycompany release2026-09-09the Pro prices
iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 (U.S.) or $49.95 (U.S.) per month, and iPhone 18 Pro Max starts at $1,299 (U.S.) or $54.12 (U.S.) per month for 24 months.
backsC27 - S14secondarynews2026-10-0924/7 Wall St: Apple drops 3% on reported iPhone 18 Pro component order cuts (citing a Nikkei report) 24/7 Wall Stthe reported order cut; Reuters' copy refused press_fetch
A report stated that Apple has instructed some suppliers to scale back production of parts for its latest Pro and Pro Max models, with October component orders reduced by 15% to 20% compared with initial projections.
backsC29 - S15secondarynews2026-09-26New York Post (Reuters copy): US jury says Apple owes record $5.7 billion in patent case Reuters, via the New York Postthe haptics verdict and Apple's intent to appeal
A US jury ruled that Apple owes San Diego-based Taction more than $5.7 billion for using its patented technology to power the haptic feedback in iPhones and Apple Watches.
backsC30 - S16secondarynews2026-10-13The Motley Fool: Apple is taking on Amazon and Google in the smart home with a $299 Siri AI device The Motley FoolHomeView's price and the accessories built with LG and Schneider Electric; Apple's newsroom page returned 404
The company introduced HomeView on Tuesday, a $299 smart home display powered by Siri. ... At $299, HomeView is priced above similar-sized Echo Show products as well as the Google Nest Hub.
backsC31 - S17secondaryvendor data2026-10-18Research pack, frozen 2026-10-18 (FMP market data and analyst estimates, FINRA short interest, filed statements)the 2026-10-16 close, the price decomposition, multiples against Apple's own five-year medians, analyst estimates and ratings, target drift, short interestbacksC19C20C21C22C23
- S18primarycompany filing2026-10-15every open-market sale in a year, with the Rule 10b5-1 flagbacksC24
- S19primarycompany filing2026-02-05Alphabet's own description of its Pixel devices and Android platformsbacksC35