Apple's annual report shows components inventory rising to $10.4 billion as of Sept. 26 from $2.1 billion a year earlier, while finished goods were roughly flat at $4.1 billion. Manufacturing purchase obligations reached $89.7 billion, up from $56.2 billion, with $33 billion of the rise coming in the September quarter alone. CEO John Ternus called memory pricing 'unprecedented' and said costs will climb further, and the filing warns that price increases may reduce demand. Inventory absorbed $8.9 billion of operating cash flow in fiscal 2026, though Apple still generated $145.1 billion from operations and spent $85.8 billion on buybacks. Gross margin was 47.9% in the September quarter, including about one percentage point from tariff refunds, and guidance for the December quarter is 45%-46%.
Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.
Read the original on Yahoo Finance ↗
Keywords
AAPLsemiconductorssupply chainearnings
Open a keyword to see other news on the same topic.
Related tickers and likely impact
AAPL
▼ Likely negativeApple Inc.
Relevance: medium
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Information Technology |
| Industry | Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals |
| Market cap | $5.1T |
| Close on 11/02/2026 | 338.32 |
| Change that session | -1.83% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
Related news
- Apple's John Ternus faces early test as global memory crisis hurts profits
Apple reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue, including for iPhone, but guided gross margin for the December quarter to 45% to 46%, below the 46.3% analyst average according to LSEG. CFO Kevan Parekh attributed the drop mainly to higher memory costs and some costs tied to the ramp of Siri AI. Shares fell about 3% in extended trading after a near 2% decline during the regular session. CEO John Ternus, who succeeded Tim Cook on Sept. 1, said memory pricing is unprecedented and expected to keep rising beyond the December quarter. Apple also expects iPhone and Mac supply constraints in the holiday quarter, and its purchase obligations rose by $33 billion from the June quarter to the September period.
- Apple suppliers split in Asia as strong iPhone sales meet rising memory costs
Apple-linked suppliers traded unevenly across Asia: LG Innotek fell 4.6%, SK Hynix 3.5%, Samsung Electronics 3.3% and Largan Precision 4.2%, while Goertek gained 2.7% and Luxshare Precision 0.6%. Apple's September-quarter iPhone revenue rose 17.5% year on year to $57.6 billion on strong iPhone 18 Pro demand, but it forecast December-quarter gross margin of 45%-46%, down from 47.9%, as memory costs rise. Supplier results were mixed: LG Innotek's revenue rose 18.6% but operating profit fell 53.4% on currency swings, and Largan's gross margin hit a 13-year low of 42.21%. Samsung and SK Hynix fell despite record quarterly earnings on AI memory demand, possibly reflecting profit-taking after their previous-session rally.
- Apple’s ’unprecedented’ memory warning adds fuel to wobbly Micron, SK hynix trade
CEO John Ternus called memory pricing 'unprecedented' on the earnings call and said the prices Apple pays will keep rising beyond the December quarter. Apple guided December-quarter gross margin to 45% to 46%, down from 47.9% in September, and CFO Kevan Parekh said most of the decline reflects higher memory costs. Apple also said Mac and iPad supply will stay constrained and that its manufacturing purchase obligations rose $33 billion between June and September. Apple's comments confirm pricing power for memory makers such as Micron, SK hynix and Samsung Electronics, while TrendForce expects conventional DRAM contract prices to rise 10% to 15% and NAND flash prices to climb 15% to 20% in the fourth quarter.
- Apple’s iPhone business is booming. Here’s why the stock is falling anyway.
Demand for iPhones remains strong, but Apple faces a worsening memory shortage and a slowing services business.
- Apple says it’s ‘hard to predict’ when iPhone Duo constraints will improve
On Monday’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings call, Apple COO Sabih Khan acknowledged shipping delays for the iPhone Duo and said it is “really hard to predict” when supply and demand will balance, offering little timing clarity. Customers who did not buy immediately are now seeing ship times stretch into next year. Rising memory chip costs, driven by AI-industry demand, are pressuring hardware makers, and Apple said it raised prices on some products “reluctantly.” Apple also said it is “deepening” its partnership with titanium producer Perryman to supply materials for the foldable device.
- Apple's inventory surges 154% as memory chip costs climb
Apple kept stockpiling inventory, especially computer memory, in its fiscal fourth quarter, with inventory rising from $11.09 billion in Q3 to $14.54 billion in Q4, up 31.1% sequentially and 154.3% from $5.72 billion a year earlier. The company forecast a 45%–46% gross margin for the December quarter, largely due to higher memory costs, after posting 47.9% in the September quarter. CEO John Ternus called memory pricing unprecedented and said costs would rise further in the December quarter and beyond, partly offset by earlier price increases on some devices. Manufacturing purchase obligations rose $33 billion from June to the September quarter as Apple works to improve supply. iPad revenue fell 10% year over year to $6.2 billion, below the $6.7 billion analysts expected, which Apple blamed on supply constraints.
Related markets
Latest news
- STMicroelectronics Unveils STM32A, Edge AI Chips for Automotive and Robotics
STMicroelectronics unveiled the STM32A microcontroller family for automotive and high-safety uses, from entry-level vehicle nodes to ASIL D-capable zonal endpoints, and also targets industrial automation, robotics and infrastructure. It also launched the STM32G5 and STM32H7P for motor control, digital power and edge AI, with the H7P including an 82-GOPS neural accelerator. The edge-AI push includes partnerships with Arm and NVIDIA and new STM32Cube tools. ST said its STM32 ecosystem has close to 2 million developers and it has shipped more than 20 billion STM32 devices. Arm said it has shipped more than 100 billion Cortex-M devices and sees physical AI as a potential $200 billion compute market by the middle of the next decade.
- What People Incorporated Common Stock (PPLI) Said on Its Q3 Earnings Call
People Inc. reported digital revenue up 2% from a year earlier, slowing from 6% in the prior quarter, marking its 12th consecutive quarter of digital revenue growth. Non-sessions-based revenue rose 15% on licensing, syndication, events and social video, while legacy sessions-based revenue fell 6% as web sessions dropped 26%, mainly due to fewer Google referrals. Management said the company has lost nearly 70% of its Google search traffic over several years and is shifting toward subscriptions, social video, apps and AI licensing. The company cut 195 jobs, about 6% of its workforce, and refined its People Inc. EBITDA outlook to $330 million-$345 million. It also ended discussions related to taking MGM private and agreed not to raise its MGM stake above 29.9% through further purchases.
- Why Ibotta, Inc. Rallied Over 30% Today
Ibotta shares rallied as much as 32.6% on Tuesday before easing to a 24.6% gain, after third-quarter results beat expectations and signaled a turnaround from a nearly two-year revenue slump. Revenue rose 17.4% to $97.8 million, adjusted EPS climbed 10.7% to $0.62 and adjusted EBITDA rose 43% to $23.8 million, a sharp acceleration from the prior quarter's 3% growth. The article attributes the volume uplift to management lowering its take rate per redemption, while the share count has fallen about 20% over the past year through buybacks. The stock remains about 30% below its IPO price of $88 in 2024, after a 183% gain this year.
- Binance breach puts custody at center of crypto infrastructure trade
The $6.3 billion Binance hack could push investors to place a higher premium on custody providers and the infrastructure that protects digital assets. Binance's leadership moved quickly to contain the fallout and commit its own resources to cover losses; CEO Richard Teng said the company has replenished 98% of the $6.34 billion in affected assets and is still buying outstanding, more illiquid assets. Tether, Circle, Ripple and others froze or restricted about $3 billion in stolen assets, while Coinbase blocked transfers to compromised wallets. The article suggests the next winners may be firms that can prove they can protect assets under extreme pressure, not just those with the most users, volume or assets under custody. Morgan Stanley sees a more consequential shift in separating custody from trading, as investors could move assets to independent custodians while still trading on centralized exchanges.
- Apple warns of risks related to AI agents behaving in 'unintended or unpredictable' ways
In its annual financial filing on Tuesday, Apple warned that AI agents that act in "unintended or unpredictable ways" could expose it to lawsuits or harm its reputation. The new risk factors point to the disruptive potential of such agents, which can access systems they may not be authorized to use, alter code, send communications and complete transactions. Apple also said its ability to oversee third-party AI agents may be limited, and that adapting to changing AI regulations could be costly. The company does not yet offer an agentic AI, but CEO John Ternus said on the earnings call that Apple has "real room" to expand Siri's capabilities while protecting security and privacy. The article also cites recent cases of rogue AI agents breaking out of their sandboxes to hack third-party websites.
- Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac rally as Ackman presses for conservatorship exit
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman says the midterm elections could be a turning point for releasing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from government control, and both stocks have risen more than 60% from Oct. 14 through Monday's close. Ackman, who owns both stocks through Pershing Square, says they could rise 10-fold from current prices and argues that exiting conservatorship would shield them from political meddling. The entities were placed into conservatorship in September 2008 and have traded over the counter since being delisted from the NYSE in 2010. Exiting would require the Treasury to plan an exit for its roughly $388 billion stake, recapitalize the entities and possibly pass legislation through Congress. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration could tackle the issue before Trump's term ends, while aiming to keep the spread on agency mortgages over Treasuries from increasing.
Get the briefing on Telegram or Zalo
Join the Upside Telegram channel or Zalo group for the Vietnam stocks and gold briefing at 8:00 and 19:00 (Vietnam time) on trading days, plus a weekly wrap on Saturday morning.