Apple will report its third-quarter financial results on July 30. Here’s what happened in the quarter, and what analysts believe will be the highlights of Tim Cook’s last earnings report as CEO.
Apple’s Q3 2026 financial results will be issued by Apple in a press release on July 30. As is tradition, it will be followed by the analyst and investor conference call at 5 p.m. EDT.
The call will see current CEO Tim Cook and CFO Kevan Parekh talking about the quarter and providing guidance for future quarters. Analysts will also ask questions about Q3 and what to expect from upcoming trade periods.
The discussions will almost certainly also cover Cook’s last financials call as CEO.
As usual, AppleInsider will be reviewing the data and reporting on the subjects raised in the conference call.
Last Quarter: Q2 2026
Released on April 30, the Q2 earnings were a second-quarter record, with $111.2 billion in revenue reported. There were also gains across almost all areas, exceeding the expectations of Wall Street analysts.
The revenue included $56.99 billion from iPhone, with Mac revenue also up at $8.4 billion, iPad rose to $6.9 billion, and Wearables, Home, and Accessories shifted to $7.9 billion.
The ever-reliable Services category reached $30.9 billion, up from $26.6 billion in Q2 2025.
During the period, Apple enjoyed post-holiday launches including the M4 iPad Air, the iPhone 17e, M5 upgrade to MacBook Air, and the M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro. There was also the updated Apple Studio Display, the Studio Display XDR, and the MacBook Neo.
Year Ago Quarter: Q3 2025
The Q3 2025 figures were an improvement to $94.04 billion in revenue, again soundly beating Wall Street expectations.
The iPhone revenue was up to $44.58 billion, with Mac also growing to $8.05 billion, and Services marching upward to $27.4 billion.
Apple quarterly revenue by unit as of Q2 2026
However, iPad revenue dipped from $7.16 billion in Q3 2024 to $6.58 billion in Q3 2025. Similarly, Wearables, Home, and Accessories went from $8.09 billion to $7.4 billion.
The quarter had a backdrop of a global trade war, with Apple getting a minimal hit from grossly increased tariffs. Apple also managed to get a new all-time high for its install base across all product categories and geographic segments.
What happened in Apple’s third fiscal quarter of 2026.
The quarter is the first to fully benefit from the Q2 releases, since they were available for the entire period instead of part of it. Aside from the launch of the AirPod Max 2, there aren’t really any major in-quarter launches to be concerned about.
However, the ongoing memory crisis has made an impact. Warned in June by Cook, he admitted that price rises were “unavoidable,” and the situation unsustainable.
A few days later, Apple raised the prices of its products across the range significantly.
This included the MacBook Air starting from $1,299 instead of $1,099 and the MacBook Neo jumping from $599 to $699. The Mac Studio was badly hit, with the M4 Max starting from $2,499 instead of $1,999, and the M3 Ultra going up from $3,999 to $5,299.
While products like the HomePod and Apple Vision Pro also saw hikes, Apple didn’t adjust the prices of the iPhone 17 generation. It may simply be waiting for the iPhone 18 to do that.
During the Q2 results, Parekh provided some forward-looking statements. This included expectations of revenue growth at between 14% and 17% year-over-year, and a gross margin between 47.5% and 48.5%.
Operational Expenditure should reach between $18.8 billion and $19.1 billion.
What is Wall Street expecting to see in Apples’ Q3 2026 financial report?
The Wall Street consensus refers to a survey of analysts. The results are averaged out to give a general opinion of where investors and analysts are leaning in their quarterly forecasts.
Yahoo Finance
Yahoo Finance’s revenue estimate for Apple in Q3 stems from 27 analysts. As of July 22, the average estimate is $108.9 billion, with a low of $107.5 billion and a high of $112.17 billion.
For the earnings per share estimate, 31 analysts put it at an average of $1.89. The low is $1.83 and the high is $1.99.
TipRanks
TipRanks also does its own analyst polling on Apple’s quarter. In its forecast as of July 22, its consensus is for revenue at $108.85 billion, with a high of $112.20 billion and a low of $105.20 billion.
On the earnings per share, the consensus is $1.89, with a low of $1.80 and a high of $1.99.
Analyst Expectations
Ahead of the results and call, analysts offer their own forecasts of what they think Apple will be declaring in its financials. Depending on the firm and the analyst, these hot takes include both positive and negative opinions about Apple.
AppleInsider will add to the analyst speculation here as the predictions roll in.
Bank of America
In a forecast that rolled in on July 20, Bank of America is a little positive about Apple’s potential results. In its July 20 forecast, it believes Apple will get $109 billion in revenue with an earnings per share of $1.89.
iPhone build plans for a Pro-centric production are robust, but the analysts are being more conservative due to the new hardware cycle staggering. For Services, BoA thinks there will be 14% year-over-year growth.
As expected, BoA believes that investor focus will be on things like component cost rises, as well as the Cook-Ternus changeover.
BoA has a Buy rating for Apple, with a price target of $380.
Morgan Stanley
On July 24, Morgan Stanley provided its own guidance on the quarterly results, with expectations it will slightly beat market expectations.
Working on guidance of potential increases in revenue and EPS, Morgan Stanley thinks that Apple’s gross margin may go slightly below the market’s forecast. It blames potential changes to iPhone shipment volumes, price hikes, and cost inflation.
Under this forecast, Morgan Stanley reiterated its “Overweight” rating for Apple, but raised the price target from $360 to $364.
UBS
On July 16, UBS issued a report giving Apple a “Neutral” rating and maintained a price target of $296.
For the quarter, UBS expects revenue to reach $107.8 billion, just below a $108.1 billion consensus. The diluted earnings per share is anticipated to be $1.84, slightly down from the $1.87 of the consensus.
On a per-unit basis, iPhone market share increased in the quarter, with Mac revenue up thanks to new models, albeit with a small shift to a lower average selling price. Services is projected to get a 13% year-over-year growth, though with headwinds in App Store growth and Google search-related revenue.
This story originally appeared on Appleinsider
