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Bottom line: Apple’s last quarterly earnings report under CEO Tim Cook showed gains across nearly every category, led by iPhone and Mac sales. The budget MacBook Neo appears to have been a major contributor to that growth. But as the Cupertino company prepares to hand the reins to a new CEO, rising prices could complicate the road ahead. Apple has already begun responding with a new leasing program.
iPhone sales drove the largest gains, bringing in $54.3 billion in revenue during the third quarter of fiscal 2026, up 22% YoY. Services, wearables, iPads, and especially Macs also contributed, pushing overall revenue to $109 billion, up 16% YoY.
The MacBook Neo, Apple’s first budget-priced MacBook, was likely the biggest driver behind that Mac growth. The entry-level notebook couldn’t hold onto its $600 launch price for long, but it quickly outsold the MacBook Air and pushed Apple to double its production target.
AI fever likely played a role too, helping drive the Mac division’s 29% YoY growth. The popularity of AI agents like OpenClaw triggered Mac mini shortages that stretched on for months.
Despite that impact, Apple has largely watched the AI boom from the sidelines. The company introduced a new AI-powered version of its digital assistant, Siri, earlier this year, but rivals Microsoft and Google have bet far more heavily on Copilot and Gemini, respectively.
That caution has drawn criticism from some quarters, but investors have also come to see Apple as something of a safe haven amid the AI market’s volatility, helping the company reclaim its status as the world’s most valuable.

Still, Apple couldn’t escape the historic DRAM and NAND shortages stemming from the AI data center buildout. The full impact of recent price hikes, which pushed MacBook and iPad prices up by as much as $200 just days before the quarter ended, remains unclear.
Apple Upgrade, a leasing program the company announced earlier this week, could mark the start of a new era of hardware rentals.
Looking ahead, Tim Cook is set to step down as CEO in September, right as Apple unveils the iPhone 18 lineup and, potentially, the iPhone Ultra, the company’s first foldable device.
Estimates on iPhone Ultra pricing vary, but some analysts expect it to retail for as much as $2,500, marking the start of a new flagship tier that could eventually extend to a touchscreen-enabled MacBook Ultra. Other upcoming products include a major overhaul of the iPad lineup, starting with an OLED-equipped iPad mini, and a refreshed Mac lineup built around Apple’s new M6 chips.
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