The tech industry has spent much of the past week boasting about how artificial intelligence is boosting sales. Then there’s Apple.
The iPhone maker, which has been slow to release A.I. products, reported on Thursday that revenue increased 9.6 percent in the most recent quarter to $94.04 billion behind sales of legacy businesses like the iPad, Mac and App Store. The familiar products lifted profits 9 percent from a year earlier to $23.43 billion, surpassing the company’s record for the quarter, which was set in 2021.
Apple benefited from a rush by U.S. customers to buy iPhones and Macs before tariffs increased prices. The purchases helped lift iPhone sales in the most recent quarter more than 13 percent to $44.58 billion. The company also reported double-digit sales growth for the Mac.
During a call with analysts, Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said one percentage point of its 10 percent increase in quarterly sales could be attributed to people who bought products earlier than they normally would have. The company said it expected to increase its revenue in the current quarter by 4 to 9 percent.
The results blew past expectations. Wall Street analysts had predicted quarterly sales of $89.34 billion and profit of $21.43 billion. The company’s shares rose more than 3 percent in after-hours trading.
Long a stock market leader, Apple has become a laggard this year. Investors have been disappointed by its failure to release compelling A.I. products, troubled by its exposure to tariffs on smartphones made abroad and concerned about how global antitrust actions could cut into its sales. Shares of the company have fallen 15 percent this year, even as the tech-heavy Nasdaq index has increased 9.5 percent.
“The perception is Apple is missing the boat on this A.I. revolution,” said Mike Frazier, chairman of Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling, an Apple investor. “They have to show that they’re willing to invest in this and have a clear, innovative strategy.”
Apple usually spends its summer building anticipation for its next iPhone release, which comes each fall. But its promotion of a new software aesthetic in June was overshadowed by its executives’ apologies in media interviews because the company had failed to release an upgraded version of its virtual assistant, Siri, with generative A.I. They said it didn’t meet the company’s quality standards and needed improvement.
Mr. Cook said Apple was making “good progress on a more personalized Siri” and expected to release the product next year. He added that the company was significantly increasing its investment in A.I. and allocating more people to work on A.I.
“We’re putting all of our energy behind it,” he said. “We have an exciting road map ahead.”
The product woes have been compounded by President Trump’s trade policies. Apple said U.S. tariffs of 30 percent on Chinese imports had added $800 million in costs in the quarter. The company expects the costs to increase to $1.1 billion in the current quarter.
Apple still makes most of its iPhones in China but has intensified its efforts to shift production to India. In the most recent quarter, the percentage of iPhones exported to the United States from India rose to 44 percent, up from 13 percent in the previous quarter, said Canalys, a market research firm.
Apple’s shift to India has irritated Mr. Trump, who wants iPhones made in the United States. In May, a month after granting Apple a reprieve from some tariffs, he threatened to put a 25 percent tariff on smartphones made anywhere outside the United States.
The company is facing separate challenges in China. Domestic companies like Huawei and Xiaomi continue to cut into Apple’s share of the world’s largest smartphone market, and Beijing is battling tepid consumer spending. Apple said on Monday that it would, for the first time, close a store in China, where it began retail operations in 2008.
In its most recent quarter, Apple said, sales in China rose 4.4 percent to $15.37 billion. It was its first increase in six quarters but still below its 2023 sales record for the quarter.
Apple’s services business, which includes sales from the App Store, Apple Pay and Apple Music, continues to grow. The company said sales had risen 13.3 percent to $27.42 billion.
But Apple’s services business could lose one of sources of revenue — the $20 billion that Google pays annually to be the automatic search engine on iPhone web browsers. A federal judge ruled last year that Google had broken the law to maintain a search monopoly. The judge is considering restricting payments to Apple to address Google’s illegal behavior. A decision is expected in August.