Revenue reached an all-time high for Apple’s most recent quarter as iPhone sales experienced an uptick due in part to consumer excitement for the arrival of Apple Intelligence, the company’s heavily advertised set of AI tools. Total sales reached $94.9 billion for the quarter, up 6 percent year-over-year and exceeding the $94.5 billion that financial analysts had predicted. The company’s iPhone business reported sales of $46.2 billion, following disappointing consecutive quarters in the first half of the year. The AI boom resulted in strong quarters for other Big Tech leaders including Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Microsoft.

Meanwhile, Apple’s “net income fell around 35 percent to $14.7 billion due to a judicial ruling in Europe that will force [the company] to pay more than $14 billion in taxes to Ireland,” according to The Wall Street Journal. “Apple services revenue came in at nearly $25 billion, up almost 12 percent from a year earlier but slightly missing analysts expectations of $25.3 billion.”

“In China, where competition intensified after domestic smartphone champion Huawei released a high-speed phone,” notes WSJ, “Apple’s revenue reached $15 billion for the region, a slight decline from the same period last year and nearly 6 percent below analyst expectations.”

“During the quarter, we were excited to announce our best products yet, with the all-new iPhone 16 lineup, Apple Watch Series 10, AirPods 4, and remarkable features for hearing health and sleep apnea detection,” explained CEO Tim Cook in a news announcement. “And this week, we released our first set of features for Apple Intelligence, which sets a new standard for privacy in AI and supercharges our lineup heading into the holiday season.”

Last week, we reported that Apple was rolling out refreshed versions of hardware including its iMac and three MacBook Pros with new M4 chips and Apple Intelligence. The company also released iOS 18.1 with Apple Intelligence features, among them new AI writing and summary tools and a more conversational Siri.

Apple, with a focus on “privacy and responsibility,” is being cautious with its AI releases. “You could put something out there and have it be sort of a mess,” Craig Federighi, Apple SVP of software engineering, told WSJ. “Apple’s point of view is more like, ‘Let’s try to get each piece right and release it when it’s ready.’” Among Apple’s upcoming features is a planned integration with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Related:
AI Titan Nvidia Overtakes Apple as World’s Most Valuable Company, Forbes, 11/4/24
New Apple Intelligence Videos Offer Workplace Solutions, 9to5Mac, 11/4/24
Apple Has Big AI Ambitions. They Might Take a While, Quartz, 11/1/24
Apple Reportedly Is Considering an iPhone-Powered Vision Device, CNET, 11/4/24