Apple’s Greater China revenue rose 21% to a quarterly record in the September period, while higher memory costs drove a roughly 1-point sequential decline in gross margin excluding tariff refunds and are expected to rise further in the December quarter.
Net sales in the region reached $17.539 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter ended Sept. 26, compared with $14.493 billion a year earlier. The increase outpaced Apple’s 12% companywide revenue growth, with total sales reaching $114.477 billion. On Monday’s earnings call, CEO John Ternus said iPhone was the primary driver of regional growth and set a September-quarter revenue record in Greater China. Mac sales there also grew at a double-digit rate.
For fiscal 2026, Greater China sales were $82.378 billion, up from $64.377 billion in fiscal 2025. Ternus said annual regional revenue rose 28%. An analyst on the call noted the increase followed two years of declines, giving the latest result context beyond the quarterly comparison.
Apple’s 47.9% gross margin included around a 1-percentage-point benefit from tariff refunds. CFO Kevan Parekh said September’s margin would have been about one point below June’s on a comparable basis that excludes refunds from both periods, with memory expense the main drag.
Services revenue was a companywide record of $31.573 billion, up from $28.75 billion a year earlier. Apple reported that figure for the business overall and did not give a Greater China Services total.
The company forecast December-quarter gross margin of 45% to 46% and revenue growth of 7% to 10% from a year earlier. Ternus said memory costs were likely to rise further and called current pricing “unprecedented.” The forecast puts component costs in focus as Apple enters the quarter that includes the holiday season.
Apple had signaled memory pressure in July. On the company’s July earnings call, then-CEO Tim Cook said it expected to pay more for memory in the September quarter, a warning covered in EconoTimes’ earlier report on Apple’s results.
