Apple forecast holiday-quarter revenue growth of 7% to 10%, the company said during its first earnings call with John Ternus as chief executive, following faster growth in the September quarter.
The forecast compared with revenue growth of 12% in the preceding quarter. Apple had increased revenue by 17% in the holiday quarter a year earlier.
The figures were discussed on Bloomberg Technology's Power On podcast, published Nov. 5. Apple also forecast a gross margin in the mid-40% range, the share of sales left after production costs.
The company generated more than $114 billion in September-quarter revenue, including more than $57 billion from iPhones. Those sales followed price increases across several product categories and a narrower September phone launch.
Apple raised prices on Macs, iPads, home devices and the Vision Pro in June, then increased iPhone prices in September. The increases provided only a “partial offset” to higher costs, the company said.
Apple sold more Macs in fiscal 2026 than in any previous fiscal year. That record covered the number of computers sold, rather than the revenue they generated.
The holiday-quarter outlook came amid shortages of the iPhone Duo. Within minutes of preorders opening on Oct. 16, delivery dates for new orders had moved to Jan. 25 through Jan. 29.
Those delivery dates fall beyond the December end of Apple's first fiscal quarter. The phone's limited availability therefore extended into the following quarter, despite its launch during the holiday sales period.
The iPhone Duo reached 70 countries at launch. Stores had between 50 and 250 phones available for customers buying in person on the first day, but availability tightened after that.
Foxconn's chief expressed confidence in a separate Bloomberg interview that the manufacturer would catch up with demand and production needs. The remarks did not establish a date for resolving the shortage.
Apple expects the memory shortage to continue through the December quarter and beyond, throughout fiscal 2027. Its price increases had not fully absorbed the higher costs underlying that outlook.
In China, Apple increased quarterly revenue by 21% to $17.5 billion. That total fell about $1 billion short of Wall Street estimates despite the growth from a year earlier.
Ternus also said the company recorded its highest number of customers upgrading devices in China. The remarks did not give a count of those customers or specify when memory supplies would recover.
