Apple stock: what is actually going on

Apple is the largest company in the market by value, and a lot has changed at the top in the past few weeks. It has a new chief executive, a new iPhone lineup in stores, and its own filings warn that component costs are rising. This page explains what the business is, what the last reported quarter showed and what is moving the stock. Every figure comes from Apple's own filings and releases or from exchange data, with the date attached.

Where the money comes from

Apple sells hardware and then earns recurring revenue from the people who use it. In the fiscal third quarter ended June 27, 2026, total revenue was $109.4 billion. Here is how it broke down:

• iPhone: $54.3 billion, about 50% of revenue, up 22% from a year earlier.
• Services (App Store, iCloud, Apple Music, Apple Pay, AppleCare, licensing and more): $30.7 billion, about 28%, up 12%.
• Mac: $10.4 billion, about 9%, up 29%.
• Wearables, Home and Accessories: $7.9 billion, about 7%, up 6%.
• iPad: $6.2 billion, about 6%, down 6%.

By region, the Americas brought in $45.8 billion, Europe $29.4 billion and Greater China $18.8 billion. Greater China grew 22% from a year earlier, which the 10-Q attributes mainly to higher iPhone sales plus a stronger renminbi.

The share price and the size of the company

Apple traded at $342.37 at 12:30 p.m. New York time on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, up $3.39, or 1.0%, from Monday's close of $338.98, according to Nasdaq data. Nasdaq lists the market value at about $5.00 trillion ($4.997 trillion). Earlier in the session the stock reached $345.34, above the $344.57 top of the 52-week range Nasdaq lists; the low end of that range is $243.42. The annual dividend is $1.08 a share, a yield of about 0.32%.

The stock closed 2025 at $271.86, so it is up about 26% this year. Its lowest 2026 close was $246.63 on March 30, and the highest was $340.08 on July 28. The sharpest drop came on July 31, the day after third-quarter results, when shares fell 7.4% from $333.43 to $308.91. The stock has since recovered almost all of that ground. It rose 3.6% on September 10, in the week Apple announced the iPhone 18 Pro, and Friday's session, the first day the new phones were in stores, drew about 86.6 million shares of volume, and the stock has risen on both trading days since.

What changed since the September 21 version of this page

• The share price is up about 1.1% from the $338.68 we reported at midday Monday, and the market value has moved from $4.94 trillion to just under $5 trillion.
• The average one-year analyst target on Nasdaq is still $337.50, so the stock now trades about $4.87 above it.
• Nasdaq, citing Zacks Investment Research, now shows an estimated earnings date of October 29, 2026 for the fiscal fourth quarter, with a consensus forecast of $1.98 in diluted earnings per share from eight analysts, against $1.85 a year earlier. That date comes from an algorithm based on past reporting dates. Apple has not announced it.
• Apple has filed no new 8-K since the September 1 amendment on the CEO transition, according to its SEC filing index.

The last reported quarter

Apple reported fiscal third-quarter results on July 30, 2026:

• Revenue: $109.4 billion, up 16% from a year earlier and a record for a June quarter.
• Gross margin: 50.1%. Apple says that includes about 2 percentage points from tariff refunds.
• Net income: $29.8 billion, up from $23.4 billion.
• Diluted earnings per share: $2.02, up 29%, including $0.11 from tariff refunds.
• Research and development: $11.7 billion, up 32% from $8.9 billion.
• Cash from operations: $117.0 billion over the first nine months of the fiscal year, up from $81.8 billion.
• Returns to shareholders: in those nine months Apple bought back 215 million shares for $61.8 billion and paid $11.8 billion in dividends.
• Balance sheet: about $146.5 billion in cash and marketable securities against about $84.3 billion of term debt and commercial paper at June 27.

The tariff refunds are one-time money. According to the 10-Q, the Supreme Court struck down some tariffs on February 20, 2026, Apple applied for refunds of what it had paid, and it books the refunds as a reduction in product costs.

What is driving the stock right now

1. A new chief executive. John Ternus, previously head of hardware engineering, became CEO on September 1, 2026. Tim Cook moved to executive chair. Apple first disclosed the plan in an April 20 filing. A September 1 amendment set Ternus's salary at $3 million and approved a fiscal 2027 equity award with a $55 million target value. Three quarters of that award depends on Apple's total shareholder return compared with the rest of the S&P 500.

2. The iPhone 18 cycle and Siri AI. The iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 and the Pro Max at $1,299 in the US, with storage options up to 2TB. The phones went on sale September 18. The new Siri AI began rolling out as a beta with iOS 27 on September 14, in English first. Apple says it will not initially be available in the European Union on iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch. The iPhone is half the business, so how many people upgrade this cycle will set the tone for the rest of the year.

3. Memory chip costs and price increases. The 10-Q says Apple is facing supply constraints and rising costs for components, including advanced chips, NAND storage and DRAM memory. Apple says it expects those trends to intensify. The filing warns that price increases "may not effectively mitigate these negative impacts, and may also reduce demand." In a Wall Street Journal interview cited by Yahoo Finance on September 21, Cook called the situation "a hundred-year flood" and said "price increases are unavoidable." He did not say when, by how much or on which products.

The bear case, stated fairly

Margins had one-time help. The 50.1% gross margin and the 29% jump in earnings per share both included tariff refunds that will not recur on their own. At the same time, memory costs are rising. Apple's 10-Q says product margins rose on mix and refunds, "partially offset by higher costs, including memory."

Price increases can backfire. Apple's own filing says higher prices may reduce demand. If costs keep climbing, Apple will have to choose between protecting margins and protecting unit sales.

Trade policy is still unsettled. The 10-Q notes new tariffs under Section 301 and an ongoing Section 232 investigation into semiconductors and products that contain them. Either could hit Apple's costs.

Services face legal pressure. Apple earns licensing revenue from Google for search placement, and the 10-Q says those deals are under government investigation and litigation. The company also faces European Commission investigations under the Digital Markets Act into how App Store developers can promote offers.

A lot is priced in. At about $5 trillion, the stock trades at the top of its 52-week range. The average one-year analyst target listed by Nasdaq is $337.50, below the current price.

What we are watching

• Fiscal fourth-quarter results. Nasdaq and Zacks estimate October 29, 2026, but Apple had not confirmed a date in the filings and releases we reviewed. The consensus EPS forecast is $1.98. Last quarter's $2.02 included $0.11 from tariff refunds, so the comparison to watch is earnings without that help. The key numbers are gross margin without the tariff refunds, and any comment on how memory costs will affect pricing.
• Early iPhone 18 demand and whether Apple raises prices on any products later in the year.
• Inventory. Inventories were $11.1 billion at June 27, nearly double the $5.7 billion at the end of the prior fiscal year.
• Payments. CoinDesk reported that Apple is hiring a strategy lead for Apple Pay, Apple Card, Apple Cash and peer-to-peer payments. The listing does not confirm any crypto product.
• Rates. The Fed has just raised its policy rate to 3.75% to 4%. See our coverage of the September decision and live levels on the markets page.

Sources: Apple third-quarter fiscal 2026 results release, July 30, 2026; Apple Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 27, 2026; Apple Form 8-K, April 20, 2026, and Form 8-K/A, September 1, 2026; Apple Newsroom; Nasdaq quote, summary, historical price and earnings-date data for AAPL retrieved September 21 and 22, 2026; Apple's SEC filing index; Yahoo Finance, citing The Wall Street Journal; CoinDesk. Revenue shares, growth rates and share-price moves are calculated from the figures cited. This page is updated as the numbers change. This is market information, not investment advice.