Apple's Q2 2026 Earnings Call: 11 Key Takeaways

[DocMultimedia]

Did Apple announce an increase to the dividends?

Ugh. I saw it was just a penny. I guess a year from now it will be two cents. Really wish they'd done two this year. The endless choice between trying to live on dividends vs sales.

 

[GraXXoR]

It took 30 years of personal computing to get a viable smartphone.

It will take at least another 30 to produce what I consider the viable successor to the smartphone.

This particular smartphone came out nearly 20 years ago.

So just a decade to go then…

 

[CEmajr]

The iPhone truly is the definitive product of the 21st century (so far). I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like it.

 

[gummybear2026]

My key takeaway is Apple will try to monetize services massively in the upcoming quarter. Ad's in every Apple stock app coming soon!

 

[DBRK95B]

Ugh. I saw it was just a penny. I guess a year from now it will be two cents. Really wish they'd done two this year. The endless choice between trying to live on dividends vs sales.

Invest in APPL for the capital gains, not for its meager dividends.

 

[1BadManVan]

Well… little worried what’s in store for the 18 pro series in September then

 

[SpotOnT]

And despite all the record sales, Apple still wants to start showing ads in Maps….

 

[LFO8]

What a weird system has formed that drives our everyday lives. The expectation of ‘continuous growth’.

 

[unregbaron]

Do retail staff get a bonus at times like this?

 

[Steve Adams]

I love how they always frame their results in terms of customer happiness. Most companies would say "The new Neo earned a billion dollars" but Apple says "The new Neo is captivating customers around the world". There's a big difference between one and the other.

I have always said, Apple is a marketing company that sells devices. Think Tim came up with that all by himself?

 

[svish]

Not surprised to see iPhone 17 selling well. Revenue from services will only continue to grow. Not sure when Apple is planning on launching M5 mini and iMac considering current memory pricing/scenario.

 

[apocalyarts]

I just hope Apple actually understands WHY the iPhone 17 is selling so well...

 

[azentropy]

Invest in APPL for the capital gains, not for its meager dividends.

You only realize any capital gains of course if you sell. Dividends are nice for those of us who are long time holders (started accumulating in 1996) and do not wish to sell anytime soon. Even with the increase APPL is now at an all time low for dividend yield percentage since they started paying dividends 15 years ago @ < 0.40%

 

[IIGS User]

It will be interesting to see the reaction to the tariff rebates, particularly since Tim Cook said Apple will reinvest the proceeds in the US.

That's code word for another stock buy back.

 

[shinkansenwarrior]

Tim, knowing the crown was going over to John, suddenly felt a jolt of generosity in providing a regular iPhone modal with pro motion and a bigger screen....a feature he adamantly kept for pro modals for years driving non-pro users nuts.
He finally, to the great surprise and delight of many I imagine, delivered the goods turning the corner into the final straight with the finishing flag in sight.

No wonder iPhone 17 sales went off the charts!

But here's the question ..... while it was a good move, how are they going to make another significant upgrade to the regular modals to match the success of the regular 17?

Or was it a one off gift of appreciation by Tim? A gesture of thanks in return for all the profit he made over the years for soldered RAM, ridiculously priced upgrade options, overpriced cleaning cloths, 700 dollar wheels for pro machines and removal of key accessories from Mac hardware to sell online for incremental revenue that once was a given to be included in the total price package.

Mmm..... I'm glad he did the right thing with the iPhone 17. But his legacy also will be remembered for nickel and diming.

Looking forward I hope we see John Ternus drive Apple's product innovation away from the central focus point of iPhone and creating solid value proposition for new products and fair pricing that customers can get excited about.

 

[BuddyTronic]

I just hope Apple actually understands WHY the iPhone 17 is selling so well...

Indeed! They could be fluking it out all this time, not really comprehending why people keep buying their cellular phone devices. "Let's try making a shoulder holster for this thing and see if it perks up sales" 🙂

 

[fzJNotIBOxgnbqejSeVCvJScL]

Hope the new CEO Ternus will peel off more market share from Windows and Android.

Hope they understand the inertia of switching from the users' perspective, if cost is no longer a factor. Talk to the iOS and MacOS virgins.

 

[thefredelement]

I was holding out for an M5 Mac Studio Ultra with high end specs but instead went for an M5 MBP with max cpu, ram, and 4TB ssd.

I'd prefer the studio but will hold out until we're back to close to normal or depending on how things go over the next year or so, I'll pick up a refurb / used one.

 

[Chazak]

My key takeaway is that apparently Apple can get refunded for the tariffs..that we paid?

I suppose in this specific case if Apple did not in fact pass those costs along to us, it's justified. But still. That sounds weird.

You did not pay a dime in tariffs.

 

[CarAnalogy]

You did not pay a dime in tariffs.

But that’s the only thing anyone ever said any time they came up!

 

[DBRK95B]

You only realize any capital gains of course if you sell. Dividends are nice for those of us who are long time holders (started accumulating in 1996) and do not wish to sell anytime soon. Even with the increase APPL is now at an all time low for dividend yield percentage since they started paying dividends 15 years ago @ < 0.40%

Most certainly, you are totally correct that one can only receive capital gains at times when some of their APPL shares (or any other stock shares) are sold. Like you, I've been a long time Apple share holder (about 15 years) and over that time have seen the total value of my APPL holdings increase by many tens of thousands of dollars and in that same time received at most a few hundred dollars in dividends. The point I had meant to make in my earlier post is that APPL stock is a great investment if one's goal is primarily long term capital appreciation (and capital gains at times of share sales), but if someone prioritizes high quarterly dividend payouts there are lots of better places to invest. I think of the meager dividends that APPL does issue as a small bonus for investors and, like you, I wouldn't mind if they raised their dividend rate more substantially. I definitely can't complain, however, when the capital appreciation of Apple shares has been so high in the long run.

 

[Mr. Nice]

Even adding the Mac lineup and iPads in together, we still don’t see anywhere near the revenue that the iPhone still hauls in.

What really shocks me:

Mac, iPad, and wearables combined are smaller than the Services division!!!

At some point, Services will be bigger than the iPhone.

The problem:
Apple is turning into a subscription company.

Google is producing more and more hardware.

So I'm curious to see when Apple will decide to become an ad-driven company like Google.

 

[Abazigal]

Tim, knowing the crown was going over to John, suddenly felt a jolt of generosity in providing a regular iPhone modal with pro motion and a bigger screen....a feature he adamantly kept for pro modals for years driving non-pro users nuts.
He finally, to the great surprise and delight of many I imagine, delivered the goods turning the corner into the final straight with the finishing flag in sight.

No wonder iPhone 17 sales went off the charts!

But here's the question ..... while it was a good move, how are they going to make another significant upgrade to the regular modals to match the success of the regular 17?

Or was it a one off gift of appreciation by Tim? A gesture of thanks in return for all the profit he made over the years for soldered RAM, ridiculously priced upgrade options, overpriced cleaning cloths, 700 dollar wheels for pro machines and removal of key accessories from Mac hardware to sell online for incremental revenue that once was a given to be included in the total price package.

Mmm..... I'm glad he did the right thing with the iPhone 17. But his legacy also will be remembered for nickel and diming.

Looking forward I hope we see John Ternus drive Apple's product innovation away from the central focus point of iPhone and creating solid value proposition for new products and fair pricing that customers can get excited about.

These kind of decisions are rarely made in a vacuum. Apple likely already has a spreadsheet showing what features will eventually trickle down to the base iPhone from the pro models in the following years.

It's also worth noting that prior to the the iPhone 17 getting promotion, people didn't suddenly stop buying iPhones; they simply opted for the more expensive models. And even now, the popularity of the iPhone 17 seems to be happening in tandem with the popularity of the 17 pro max, with majority of consumers still opting for the latter.

As such, is it such a big deal if the next few iterations of the base iPhone model doesn't get any significant new features, if it simply pushes customers to their pricier alternatives instead? Personally, I am not to concerned about this so-called "nickel and diming". For example, I moved away from Apple's stock chargers a long time ago in favour of multi-port chargers to consolidate my charging setup. I will even argue that the removal of the charger and EarPods helped Apple maintain the pricing of the iPhone, rather than raise the prices to account for higher R&D and manufacturing costs.

Good products don't have to be cheap. Tim Cook knows this, and that's why he dares to charge the prices that he does - because the experience afforded by Apple products is still good enough that there is no shortage of customers willing to pay for them.

 

[Avatar74]

This particular smartphone came out nearly 20 years ago.

So just a decade to go then…

In the current supply chain environment, no. The idea I have is at least 50 years away, assuming we don't descend into another world war which the developed nations (and tech bros) seem to be gearing up for.

The technology to do what I'm envisioning is decades away, and it's not a problem that software engineering can solve. This one will require massive leaps in hardware engineering which are going to be an increasing roadblock as we start seeing political rifts create more disruptions in global supply chain... or, at least, if it's going to happen it's not likely to be the US that makes it happen.

Fun fact: My undergrad thesis was on internet distribution of music... in 1996.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Key takeaway: Everything is facing shortages. For Mac, the primary reason is TSMC capacity. Memory pricing will have a significant effect for Apple starting in June. Get your silicon while you can. It'll probably be a couple years before all of this is resolved and supply fully meets demand.

I 100% agree with this. My Lenovo Legion laptop doubled in price in a matter of months. Glad I bought it when I did.

Apple will probably be able to avoid that somewhat, but not entirely. It’s coming.