Apple posted a record number of iPhone sales during its June fiscal quarter. And the ongoing turmoil over tariff policies may have helped.
During the company's fiscal third quarter, which ended on June 28, Apple posted a little less than $44.6 billion in revenue from its iPhone business, a 13% increase from the previous year. Those iPhone sales helped Apple reach total revenue of $94 billon, another June quarter record for the company, and a 10% increase from last year's sales.
Those numbers came in a quarter where U.S. trade policies continued to threaten tariffs against a lot of the countries where Apple assembles its products, particularly in China. Indeed, during the June quarter, Apple said tariff-related costs contributed about $800 million to its expenses, as the company shifted production to other countries and built up supplies ahead of new tariffs going into effect.
So how much did the threat of tariffs push people to move up their purchases, buying new phones now ahead of potential price increases later in the year. Not as much as you might think, according to Apple, with CEO Tim Cook attributing the bigger-than-expected sales increase to the appeal of the iPhone 16.
"The [iPhone] 16 family grew double-digits, as opposed to the 15 family from the year-ago quarter."
— Tim Cook, Apple CEO
"If you look at the iPhone, the 16 family grew double-digits, as opposed to the 15 family from the year-ago quarter," said Cook, noting that Apple enjoyed a record quarter for iPhone upgrades.
That said, Cook acknowledged some "pull forward" purchase — a term that describes early upgrades from people looking to get in front of any tariff-driven price hikes. "We would estimate the pull forward of demand into April, specifically, to be about 1 point out of 10 points in terms of people buying because of discussions about tariffs."
That impact wasn't just felt with iPhones. Apple also saw some "pull forward" sales with its Mac business, which saw a 13% increase to $8 billion in revenue for the June quarter.
Cook reiterated Apple's strategy for dealing with tariffs that he outlined during Apple's earnings announcement for the March quarter. "In terms of what we do to mitigate, we obviously try to optimize our supply chain. And ultimately, we will do more in the United States," Cook said. "We’ve committed 500 billion investment in the U.S. over the next four years, and [we’re] already building chips in Arizona, and in fact, we’re building semiconductors across 12 states and 24 factories and have a lot of other things in the works."
It's clearly not an issue that's going away. Apple estimates that the September quarterly currently underway will see the company add another $1.1 billion to its expenses in relation to tariffs, assuming no changes in current policies one way or the other. That said, the company told analysts to expect mid-to-high single-digit revenue growth for the September quarter.
The other interesting bit of news coming out of the earnings call today (July 31) was an update of sorts on Apple's AI efforts with adding more intelligence to its Siri personal assistant. Apple says it's increasing its investment in AI, and it remains on track to deliver the long-promised improvements to Siri in 2026.
"We’re making good progress on a more personalized Siri, and we do expect to release the features next year, as we had said earlier," Cook said. "Our focus from an AI point of view is on putting AI features across the platform that are deeply personal, private, and seamlessly integrated, and, of course, we’ve done that with more than 20 Apple Intelligence features so far, from Visual Intelligence to Clean Up to Writing Tools and all the rest."
Some new Apple Intelligence features are included in the iOS 26 update, which is currently in public beta ahead of its full release in the fall. At the same time the iOS update arrives, Apple is expected to release its new iPhone 17 models, with a report this week claiming that Apple is mulling over a price hike for its new phones.
Updated to correct the amount of total revenue Apple posted in its third fiscal quarter.
Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
More from Tom's Guide
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
