Apple held its fiscal Q2 2026 earnings conference call on April 30th, delivering strong financial results alongside notable commentary on iPhone momentum, Services growth, Apple Intelligence, and the upcoming CEO transition. Here are the most important things said on the call, in the executives’ own words:
Tim Cook on the record quarter and iPhone strength
“Today, Apple Inc. is proud to report $111.2 billion in revenue, up 17% from a year ago and a March record, which was above the high end of our guidance range despite constraints. Customer enthusiasm for iPhone has been extraordinary, with revenue growing 22% year over year to achieve a March record.”
“The iPhone 17 family is now the most popular lineup in our history when looking at the launch through March. And according to IDC, we gained market share during the quarter.”
Cook on Greater China rebound and Services
“We are thrilled with the performance in Greater China. The first half of the year grew 33%. In March, revenue was up 28% — a quarterly revenue record for us. The performance is really driven by iPhone, which was also a March record.”
“Services reached an all-time revenue record with $31 billion. We saw double-digit growth in both developed and emerging markets and set new all-time revenue records across most of the Services categories.”
Cook on the future and Apple Intelligence
“What truly sets Apple Inc. apart is how Apple Intelligence is woven into the core of our platforms, powered by Apple silicon and designed from the ground up to deliver intelligence that is fast, personal, and private.”
“As we celebrated 50 years of Apple Inc., we are even more excited and more optimistic about the next 50 years and beyond.”
Cook on the CEO transition to John Ternus
“This moment for the transition is the right one for a number of reasons. First, our business has been performing extremely well… Second, our roadmap is incredible. And most importantly, we have the right leader ready to step into the role. As I have said, there is no one on this planet I trust more to lead Apple Inc. into the future than John Ternus. John is a brilliant engineer, a deep thinker, a person of remarkable character, and a born leader.”
John Ternus on stepping into the CEO role
“In my view, Tim is one of the greatest business leaders of all time. Stepping into the role of CEO is incredible, and it means a great deal to me to have Tim’s trust and confidence.”
“As you know, one of the hallmarks of Tim’s tenure has been a deep thoughtfulness, deliberateness, and discipline when it comes to the financial decision-making of the company. And I want you to know that is something Kevan and I intend to continue when I transition into the role.”
Kevan Parekh on guidance, costs, and investments
“For the June quarter — and what is embedded in the guidance… we expect significantly higher memory costs… beyond the June quarter, we believe memory costs will drive an increasing impact on our business.”
“We are clearly investing more — you can see that in the OpEx numbers… R&D is accelerating much higher than the company overall. We are investing in products and services, and we see opportunities in both.”
Cook also announced another $100 billion share repurchase authorization and a 4% dividend increase, underscoring Apple’s strong capital return program.
MacDailyNews Take: The call reflected confidence in both the current momentum and the smooth leadership handoff, with Tim Cook set to move into the Executive Chairman role on September 1st while John Ternus assumes the CEO position.
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Is Tim C joking? Can’t be serious or professional. I Ternus not going to resume Tim’s cooking of Apple, especially when still on board & at exec level? Yes, Tim made AAPL go from $1B to $4T, the best grower in corp history, but with zero mojo/dna/genes/Apple soul. There seems to be non one in the world, inside or outside Apple, to fill iSteve’s shoes, the ultimate CEO in history, with knowledge of soft- & hard-ware, marketing, vision & willpower, defying gravity! The one everyone forgot and is the sole talent with all those iSteve skills, does exist, it is Lebanese Tony Fadell! Whether he’d want the ceo position or not, did Apple/Tim even bother to call him?! If Apple is worried outsiders would not understand that Apple culture/mojo, well, Tim did not, pissed on it for numbers, and Tony was a long time leading/inventing at Apple (iPod, iPhone etc.) and to top it all off, Tony succeeded independently as top entrepreneur, with so much mojo/vision, he invented the SmartHome industry with Nest! So he has more iQ/eQ/personality/character/knowhow than Ternus and the charisma to boot, whereas everyone at Apple from Tim to Ternus, seem soulless, bland, banal.
Scott Forrestal would have been a super choice except that Tim dumped him; likely because SF wanted Maps to be truly ready before release, and Tim forced the rush and blamed SF. SF worked with Jobs on numerous excellent product creations.
year after year I saw better hardware from Apple and that is because of Ternus, Even my 2014 Mac mini has not ginen any kind of hardware trouble till now,