Apple Posts Record $111.2 Billion March Quarter With 28 Percent Greater China Rebound in Cook's Last Full Quarter as CEO
Apple posted $111.2 billion in Q2 revenue and $29.6 billion in profit, beating estimates as iPhone 17 lifted sales 22 percent and Greater China rebounded 28 percent. The board added $100 billion to buybacks before Cook hands the CEO role to Ternus.
Overview
Apple on April 30 reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $111.2 billion and net profit of $29.6 billion, setting a March-quarter record and beating Wall Street estimates on the strength of iPhone 17 demand, an all-time-high services run, and a sharp rebound in Greater China. The results — the last full quarter under Tim Cook before he hands the CEO role to hardware chief John Ternus on September 1 — were accompanied by a fresh $100 billion share repurchase authorization and a 4 percent dividend increase, according to Apple’s newsroom announcement.
This follows The Machine Herald’s prior reporting on the Cook-to-Ternus succession announced on April 20.
What We Know
Apple’s headline figures for the quarter ended March 28 came in materially above analyst consensus. Revenue of $111.2 billion was up 17 percent year over year from $95.4 billion, and diluted earnings per share rose 22 percent to $2.01 from $1.65 a year earlier, as reported by 9to5Mac. Operating cash flow exceeded $28 billion in the quarter, according to Apple.
The iPhone was the dominant driver. iPhone revenue reached $56.99 billion, up roughly 22 percent from $46.84 billion a year earlier and a March-quarter record for the segment, per 9to5Mac’s earnings coverage. Services revenue hit a new all-time high of $30.98 billion, up about 16 percent from $26.6 billion. Mac contributed $8.4 billion (up roughly 6 percent), iPad $6.9 billion (up roughly 8 percent), and Wearables, Home and Accessories $7.9 billion (up about 5 percent), also per 9to5Mac.
Greater China — long a source of investor anxiety — was the standout regional story. Sales in the region grew to $20.5 billion, up 28 percent from $16 billion a year ago, as reported by CNBC. Tim Cook described the results as showing “double-digit growth across every geographic segment,” according to Apple.
Apple’s board authorized an additional $100 billion in share repurchases and raised the quarterly cash dividend by 4 percent to $0.27 per share from $0.26, according to Apple’s release. The increased authorization extends one of the largest sustained capital-return programs in corporate history.
CEO Comments and Forward Guidance
On the earnings call, Cook attributed the iPhone result to the iPhone 17 family, calling it “the most popular lineup in our history,” and acknowledged that supply constraints driven by TSMC 3nm capacity bottlenecks for the A19 and A19 Pro chips limited what could have been an even larger quarter, according to MacRumors’ summary of the call. The active installed base of devices reached a new all-time high of 2.5 billion across all major product categories.
For the June quarter, Apple guided to total revenue growth of 14 to 17 percent year over year, with services growing at a similar rate to Q2, per CNBC’s earnings coverage. The guidance well exceeds the roughly 9 to 10 percent growth analysts had been modeling. Management warned, however, that elevated memory prices will “significantly” pressure margins, that Mac supply constraints are likely to persist into the June quarter, and that the iPad faces a difficult year-over-year compare against last year’s M-series launch, according to MacRumors’ call coverage.
Cook also addressed the leadership transition directly on the call, telling investors he had “no one I trust more to lead Apple into the future than John Ternus,” as reported by MacRumors. The board’s succession plan, previously announced on April 20, names Ternus CEO effective September 1, 2026, with Cook becoming executive chairman.
What We Don’t Know
Apple did not break out Apple Intelligence usage figures or provide unit shipment numbers for any product line, continuing its long-standing practice of disclosing only revenue by category. The company also did not quantify the dollar value of supply constraints on iPhone or Mac, leaving open the question of how much pent-up demand spills into the June quarter. Tariff exposure was discussed in qualitative terms only — Cook noted that Apple had benefited from reduced IEEPA tariff rates and Section 122 reductions during the quarter and intended to reinvest refunded amounts into U.S. operations, according to MacRumors’ call coverage, but the company has not disclosed a specific dollar impact for the June quarter.
The sustainability of the Greater China rebound is also unclear. Apple has not separated iPhone 17 launch dynamics from any underlying market-share recovery against domestic Chinese competitors, and the company’s commentary did not address whether the 28 percent growth rate is repeatable or driven by one-time launch and channel effects.
Why It Matters
The quarter cements Cook’s financial legacy on the way out. When he succeeded Steve Jobs in August 2011, Apple’s market capitalization was roughly $350 billion; the company crossed $4 trillion in late 2025, as previously reported by The Machine Herald. The March 2026 quarter pairs the highest revenue ever reported in a non-holiday March quarter with a record services run rate above $120 billion annualized, leaving Ternus inheriting an installed base of 2.5 billion active devices and a balance sheet that just funded another $100 billion buyback — but also an iPhone supply chain that, by Apple’s own admission, cannot keep up with demand for its newest chips.