Apple (AAPL) delivered a standout fiscal second quarter, reporting revenue of $111.2 billion for the three months ended March 28, 2026, a 17 percent increase year on year and the company’s best-ever performance in the March quarter.
Earnings per share came in at $2.01, beating analyst expectations of $1.95 and representing 22 percent growth from the same period last year. The results sent Apple’s stock up more than 3 percent in trading on Friday, extending gains that have made it one of the stronger large-cap performers of the year.
The headline number was powered by iPhone, which generated $56.99 billion in revenue during the quarter, a 22 percent year-on-year increase and another March quarter record. CEO Tim Cook credited “extraordinary demand” for the iPhone 17 lineup for the beat, though he acknowledged that supply constraints, primarily related to the availability of advanced semiconductor nodes, limited what the company could have delivered.
Apple’s gross margin reached 49.3 percent, up from 48.2 percent in the previous quarter, pointing to improving cost dynamics even as input pressures from the global memory shortage persist.
Services continued its remarkable trajectory, hitting an all-time revenue record of $30.98 billion, up 16 percent from a year earlier. The segment now represents one of the most important drivers of Apple’s profitability, generating margins that far exceed the company’s hardware lines. Mac revenue came in at $8.4 billion, iPad at $6.91 billion, and Wearables at $7.9 billion, with all three lines ahead of analyst expectations. Greater China delivered $20.5 billion, a 28 percent increase, suggesting that concerns about Apple’s competitive position in that market have not materially hurt results in the near term.
The earnings call was notable for a second reason beyond the numbers. Tim Cook announced in April that he would step down as CEO on September 1, with hardware engineering head John Ternus set to succeed him. Ternus joined the call, described the company’s “incredible roadmap ahead,” and took questions from analysts, making this effectively a soft introduction to the next era of Apple leadership. Cook, for his part, said the company’s collaboration with Google to power Siri through the Gemini AI model “is going well,” a detail that will matter as investors assess Apple’s competitive positioning in the agent AI space.
Apple also announced a fresh $100 billion share buyback authorisation and raised its dividend by 4 percent to 27 cents per share, payable on May 14. For the current quarter, the company guided for revenue growth of 14 to 17 percent year on year, a guidance range significantly above the 9.5 percent consensus Wall Street had been expecting. Research and development spending jumped 33 percent to $11.42 billion, a meaningful signal of the company’s investment commitment in AI even as it manages the transition to a new chief executive. The combination of strong results, raised guidance and a leadership succession plan gives investors a relatively clear near-term narrative to work with.
