Strong iPhone Sales Help Apple to Another Record Year

On Monday, Apple reported strong fourth-quarter earnings, capping off fiscal 2026 with several new records. Total sales of $114.5 billion marked a new September quarter high, bringing the annual total to $478.8 billion – a 15-percent jump over last year’s record. At $132 billion, Apple’s annual profit also reached a new high, as the company’s gross margin improved to 48.8 percent for the fiscal year – partly due to tariff refunds and partly due to the continued growth of its high-margin services business.

Aside from services, which grew 13 percent to an all-time high of $123 billion over the past 12 months, and the Mac, which had its best year ever in terms of unit sales, the iPhone was once again the driving force behind Apple’s record-breaking year. iPhone sales increased 21 percent year-over-year, as the iPhone 17 line-up helped Apple reach new sales records in every geographic segment, as CFO Kevan Parekh noted in the company’s earnings call.

While iPhone sales, which account for more than half of Apple’s total revenue, exceeded expectations, iPad sales disappointed once again as they declined 0.3 percent to $27.9 billion – down 13 percent from its 2013 high. Another segment that didn’t meet Apple’s high standards was the Wearables, Home and Accessories category, which includes Apple Watch, AirPods and the company’s smart home devices. While the segment has more than tripled in size since the Apple Watch launch in 2015, last year marked the fourth consecutive annual decline for the category, as sales gradually dropped from $41.2 billion in 2022 to $35.6 billion in the latest fiscal year.