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Apple reported sales of nearly $86 billion for the quarter that ended on June 29, higher than the $84.4 billion forecasted by analysts polled by FactSet.
The win for Apple came despite missing expectations for its sales in China, where the company reported revenue of $14.7 billion, nearly $1 billion lower than anticipated.
Analysts expected that Apple’s fiscal third-quarter financials wouldn’t matter much to investors, who would instead focus on executives’ commentary on its upcoming AI-enabled iPhones as well as revenue growth in China. So far, investors haven’t reacted much to the company’s sales miss in China.
Apple’s China sales are suffering less drastically than they were at the beginning of the year. But the company faces growing competition from Chinese smartphone maker Huawei. Apple has been growing in India, however — and this could help make up the difference.
Investors are most interested in Apple’s AI strategy, which the company revealed at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Apple shares, which lagged at the start of the year, jumped over 12% since the announcement of its suite of AI tools, called Apple Intelligence.
So far, Apple has clearly articulated an AI plan that’s inspired faith among investors; the stock rallied after the firm outlined its goals and teased upcoming features during its annual WWDC conference. In contrast, Wall Street responded poorly to Google’s vague commentary on how it will justify the tens-of-billions it’s sinking into AI.