Apple reported quarterly revenue of $114.5 billion for the period from July to September, up 12% from the same quarter a year earlier. The results were discussed on Monday during the company’s first earnings call since John Ternus took over as CEO from Tim Cook.
Ternus described the quarter as one of Apple’s most significant launch periods and called the iPhone Duo its most transformative iPhone since the original. He said the company was working to get the device to customers as quickly as possible.
The iPhone Duo’s orders opened too late to be reflected in the quarter’s results. The foldable phone, unveiled in September, began at $1,999, and its preorders sold out within hours. It remains on backorder, while Apple has not given a date for when supply will meet demand. COO Sabih Khan said production was ramping up but that the timing of a balance between supply and demand was difficult to predict.
Apple also addressed the rising cost of memory chips, which Ternus said has been increasing each quarter. The company expects memory costs to climb further in the December quarter. Apple raised prices on several iPhone models in September after earlier price changes for iPads and Macs in June. CFO Kevan Parekh said the company was carefully weighing short- and long-term considerations when setting prices.
Tariff refunds also supported Apple’s results. Parekh said refunds received during the September quarter accounted for about one percentage point of the company’s 47.9% gross margin. Apple has now received most of the refunds related to tariffs it paid, he added. Without the refunds in the June and September quarters, company and product gross margins would each have fallen by about one percentage point sequentially, mainly because of higher memory costs.
Sources: Mashable.