MacDailyNews presents live notes from Apple’s Q425 conference call

MacDailyNews presents live notes from Apple’s Q425 Conference Call with analysts starting at 2pm PT / 5pm ET today, October 30, 2025.
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Apple’s live conference call webcast will begin at 2pm PT / 5pm ET here.
Apple today posted record fourth quarter revenue of $102.5 billion, up 8 percent year over year, and quarterly diluted earnings per share of $1.85, up 13 percent year over year.
For the quarter, analysts’ consensus estimates called for Apple to report revenue of $102.24 billion and EPS of $1.77, both of which Apple beat.
Live notes in reverse chronological order:
• AAPL after-hours: $279.00, +7.60 +(2.80%) @ 5:56:40 PM EDT
• End of conference call.
• Parekh: We will likely continue with the hybrid model.
• Q: Will Apple change its hybrid approach in AI?
• Cook: I think that there are many factors that influence purchasing; we don’t have a great in-depth survey yet to what’s fully driving iPhone 127 family sales; I would say that Appel Intelligence is already a factor
• Q: Is AI driving sales?
• Cook: We are creating Apple foundation models and we have several in development. We are open to M&A if it will advance our roadmap
• Q: How is the new Siri going?
• Cook: We don’t get into model demand, but we are thrilled with how the new iPhone lineup has been received?
• Q: iPhone mix?
• Cook: We are continuing to build it out; the server plant just started ROBUST manufacturing in Houston a few weeks ago for servers to go into our data centers
• Q: Apple’s Private Compute Cloud buildout?
• Cook: It’s too early to call the mix – we still have notable supply constraints on several models
• Q: iPhone 17 mix changes vs. prior cycyles?
• Cook: There are opportunties on the App Store with Apple Intelligence for Apple and developers to add features
• Cook: We came out of the Sept. qtr. with significant demand
• Cook: We could have sold more; we are not publicly, at least, estimated the extent of that
• Q: iPhone constraints leaving sales on the table?
• Cook: In the long run, I am very bullish on the Mac
• Cook: Last year was sort of “The Mother of All Mac Launches,” so this year is a very difficult compare
• Cook: We always like to remind people who buy an iPhone of all of the other things we offer
• Q: iPhone halo effect?
• Cook: We are very encouraged to see U.S. import tariffs moving from 20% to 10% on China; that is included in our outlook
• Cook: Estimate goes from $1.1 to $1.4 billion; it assumes a stable environment
• Q: Tariffs?
• Parekh: We are increasing our AI and product roadmap (R&D) expenditures
• Q: Operating expenses increases to continue?
• Cook: The subsidies do play a favorable role, but they only apply to certain price ranges (several of our products are not eligible)
• Q: China momentum, role smartphone subsidies are playing in that?
• Cook: The advertising category did set a record during the Sept. qtr.
• Q: Sustainability of services growth rates?
• Cook: We are not predicting when supply/demand will balance; we are working very hard to achieve that
• Q: Constrained supply in new iPhones, will you exit Dec. qtr. still supply constarined?
• Cook: Greater China revenue down 4% YoY in Sept. qtr. due to iPhone supply constraints; we expect to return to growth this quarter
• Q: Sept. quarter a bit muted in iPhone in CHina in Sept. qtr.?
• Favorable mix will drive growth
• Parekh: 47-48% gross margin expected in Dec. quarter
• Q: Gross margins for December quarter?
• Cook: We have very strong iPhone demand, it’s not a production ramp issue
• Cook: We ended the quarter supply constrained on several iPhone 17 models
• Cook: We set a Sept. quarter record for upgraders; too early on iPhone 17 to comment on switchers
• Q: iPhone sell through, upgraders vs. switchers?
• Parekh: Not one specific thing, but the portfolio is very broad and strength was broad based
• Q: Services revenue growth, what drove that?
• Parekh: Driven by organic growth
• Q: Why such strong results?
• Cook: Store traffic up significantly YoY and the iPhone 17 family is strong; we will return to growth in Chin in December quarter, powered by iPhone
• Q: iPhone in China in December quarter?
• New products do have a slightly stronger cost structure, which should come down over time
• Parekh: Nothing really to note on memory costs; we have a world class procurement team
• Q: Component costs?
• Cook: I think it’s all about the product lineup. It’s incredibly strong. The design of the Pro sings. The iPhone Air feels so light and thin it feels like it’s going to fly away and the iPhone 17 has goten a lot of formerly Pro features – strongest iPhone lineup ever.
• Q: Why is iPhone 17 having such success?
• Tax rate expected 17%
• $18.1-18.5 billion expected operating expenses
• $1.4 billion tariff-related costs in December quarter
• We expect December quarter revenue to grow 8-10 percent, resulting in our best quarter ever
• 24 billion return to shareholder during quarter
• Net cash $34 billion
• Enterprise: Adoption of Apple products is accelerating in industry
• Double-digit growth YoY in Apple Pay transactions
• Apple set a September quarter record for Apple Watch upgraders
• Apple Watch and Airpods install bases hit new all-time high
• Customer satisfaction for iPad: 98% in the U.S.
• Over half of Mac purchasers were new to the product
• Mac revenue was driven by MacBook Air
• Apple set a September quarter record for iPhone upgraders
• Parekh recaps net sales by category
• $29.7 billion operating cash flow
• CFO Kevan Parekh: Install base of devices have reached another all-time high (no figure given)
• Apple is leading the creation of end-to-end silicon manufacturing in America
• Cook covers Apple’s investments of over $600 billion in advanced manufacturing in America
• Cook touts Apple TV
• Again, Services set an all-time quarterly revenue record of $28.750 billion (vs. $24.972 billion YoY)
• Cook touts new Apple Watches and AirPods.
• Wearables, Home and Accessories: $9.013 billion (vs. $9.042 billion YoY)
• iPad: $6.952 billion (vs. $6.950 billion YoY)
• Mac: $8.726 billion (vs. $7.744 billion YoY)
• iPhone: $49.025 billion (vs. $46.222 billion YoY)
• iPhone 17 Pro offers our best camera system ever and comes in Cosmic Orange
• We expect to release our new version of Siri next year
• When combined with the recently announced MacBook Pro and iPad Pro with the powerhouse M5 chip, we are excited to be sharing our most extraordinary lineup of products as we head into the holiday season
• In addition, we launched the fantastic AirPods Pro 3 and the all-new Apple Watch lineup
• In September, we were thrilled to launch our best iPhone lineup ever, including iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, and iPhone Air.
• Cook touts Apple A19 Pro – the fastest chip in any smartphone
• Cook: We continue to expand our investment in AI
• Cook enthuses over Liquid Glass and new OS versions
• Cook touts M5 chip
• Cook: We expect Apple’s December quarter to be THE BEST EVER for Apple and THE BEST EVER for iPhone
• Apple hit an all-time record revenue for fiscal year of $416 billion
• Service hit an all-time record at $28.750 billion (vs. $24.972 billion YoY)
• Tim Cook: Good afternoon, everyone.
• AAPL after-hours: $282.85, +11.45, (+4.22%) @ 5:02:22 PM EDT
• Diluted earnings per share was $1.85, up 13 percent year over year
• Apple posted quarterly revenue of $102.5 billion, up 8 percent year over year
• Conference call begins.
• AAPL after-hours: $282.68, +11.28, (+4.16%) @ 4:51:05 PM EDT
• AAPL after-hours: $281.02, +9.62 (+3.54%) @ 4:47:18 PM EDT
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