Max Headroom 
Apple held its earnings call for the second fiscal quarter (first calendar quarter) of 2026 today after announcing its best March quarter ever. Apple saw revenue of $111.2 billion with double-digit growth across every geographic segment and across every product category. Apple CEO Tim Cook and Apple CFO Kevan Parekh provided insight into iPhone sales, Mac sales, RAM supply issues, and more.
We’ve rounded up the most interesting takeaways from the call.
iPhone 17 Sales
Apple attributed its success to the new iPhone models. Cook said “demand was off the charts,” but Apple was facing supply constraints that impacted revenue. Had there not been supply issues, Apple would have seen higher revenue.
The A19 and A19 Pro chips from TSMC proved to be a bottleneck because TSMC uses the same 3nm process for AI chips that are in high demand. Cook said iPhone constraints were “primarily driven” by the availability of the advanced nodes Apple’s SoCs are produced on.
According to Parekh, the iPhone 17 family is Apple’s best-selling iPhone lineup to date. “The iPhone 17 family is now the most popular lineup in our history… we believe we gained market share during the quarter,” he said.
iPhone revenue was $57 billion, up 22 percent year-over-year, which is a new March quarter record. Apple saw strong demand from upgraders and customers choosing an iPhone for the first time. Cook said Apple is “enormously pleased” with how the iPhone 17 lineup has been received.
Memory Costs
Apple had higher memory costs during the March quarter, and the impact is expected to get worse as the year goes on. Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple is expecting “significantly higher memory costs” in the June quarter, and beyond June, memory costs will “drive an increasing impact” on Apple’s business.
Mac Sales
Mac revenue was $8.4 billion, up six percent year-over-year. Cook said sales were impacted by supply constraints “driven by higher than expected levels of demand.”
The MacBook Neo that was introduced during the quarter was a hit, and Apple sold out. Shipping times for new machines reached several weeks. Apple also saw high demand for the Mac mini and the Mac Studio from people buying the machines for use with AI.
Apple set March quarter records for upgraders and customers new to the Mac, leading to a new all-time record for the overall Mac install base. Apple is focused on customers new to the Mac and customers who have been holding onto their Mac for a long period of time, and the Neo is selling well to those customers.
Apple expects Macs to face supply constraints in the June quarter due to continued high demand and “less flexibility in the supply chain.”
Mac Studio and Mac mini Supplies
Apple expects it to take months to reach supply/demand balance on the Mac Studio and Mac mini, suggesting they are going to be hard to get for months to come.
Apple underestimated demand for the Mac mini and the Mac Studio. “Both of these are amazing platforms for AI and agentic tools and the customer recognition of that is happening faster than what we had predicted, and so we saw higher than expected demand,” Cook said.
John Ternus
Cook addressed John Ternus, who will take over as Apple’s CEO on September 1, 2026.
As I have said, there is no one on this planet I trust more to lead Apple into the future than John Ternus. John is a brilliant engineer, a deep thinker, a person of remarkable character, and a born leader. I know he will push us to go further than we think is possible in order to deliver the greatest products and services for our users. I have been so proud to call him a colleague and a friend, and I will be even more proud to call him Apple’s CEO.
Ternus also spoke on the call, where he teased Apple’s upcoming product lineup.
As Tim mentioned, we have an incredible roadmap ahead. And while you’re not going to get me to talk about the details of that roadmap, suffice it to say this is the most exciting time in my 25-year career at Apple to be building products and services.
There are so many opportunities before us, and I couldn’t be more optimistic about what’s to come. For now, let me simply say I am deeply grateful to Tim, to the executive team and to everyone at Apple, and I look forward to all of the important work ahead with that.
Wearables
Wearables revenue was $7.9 billion, an increase of five percent year-over-year. Apple’s wearables install base hit a new all-time high, and more than half of customers who purchased an Apple Watch during the quarter were new to the product.
Services
Apple’s services revenue reached $31 billion, a new all-time revenue record.
Apple has an install base of over 2.5 billion active devices, a new all-time high across all major product categories. Both transacting and paid accounts hit new all-time highs in the quarter.
Retail
Apple had a March quarter revenue record for retail, with “very high levels of store traffic throughout the quarter.”
AI
Parekh said that AI is a “really important investment area” for Apple, and the company plans to continue to invest in AI “incrementally on top of” what it normally invests in its product roadmap.
Apple’s R&D spending accelerated during the quarter, and Cook said that Apple is investing in products and services. “We see opportunities in both of those,” he said. “We could not be more excited about how the future is playing out.”
On the collaboration with Google, Cook said things are going well. “We’re happy with where things are, and we’re happy with the work that we’re doing independently as well,” he said.
Tariffs
From Q1 to Q2, Apple saw less impact from tariffs due to the reduction in IEEPA tariff rates, and the reduced global tariff rate under Section 122. Cook said Apple is following the established processes of applying for a refund of tariffs paid, and any amount received will be invested back into U.S. innovation and advanced manufacturing. Any investment of refunded tariff fees will be in addition to Apple’s prior commitments in the U.S.
Next Quarter
Parekh said June quarter total revenue is expected to grow 14 to 17 percent year-over-year. Services revenue is expected to grow at a similar rate to what was reported in the March quarter.
Parekh warned investors about iPad revenue because last year, Apple released the A16 iPad. “Keep in mind, we face a difficult compare driven by the launch of the A16-powered iPad in the prior year,” Parekh said.
Apple’s guidance for the June quarter relies on global tariff rates and policies remaining as they are today.
This article, “Apple’s Q2 2026 Earnings Call: 11 Key Takeaways” first appeared on MacRumors.com
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