Apple reports better-than-anticipated Q4 revenue, earnings hurt by EU tax payment

Apple (AAPL) announced its fourth quarter earnings on Thursday, giving Wall Street its first look at whether the company’s Apple Intelligence platform is juicing iPhone sales.

For the quarter, Apple saw earnings per share (EPS) of $0.97 on revenue of $94.9 billion. The company said it saw a one-time charge related to the reversal of a European General Court decision that requires Apple to pay 13 billion euros to Ireland for back taxes. Shares fell about 2% following the report.

Without the charge, EPS would have come in at $1.64. That would have blown past expectations of $1.59 per share and revenue of $94.3 billion.

Apple reported EPS of $1.46 on revenue of $89.4 billion during the same period last year.

Apple’s iPhone sales for the quarter topped out at $46.2 billion, better than the $45 billion analysts were anticipating. The company’s Services business brought in revenue of $24.9 billion, short of expectations of $25.2 billion.

Apple’s iPad revenue, meanwhile, topped $6.9 billion, roughly in line with expectations of $7 billion, while Wearables came in at $9 billion versus expectations of $9.1 billion.

Greater China revenue was $15 billion, shy of the $15.8 billion Wall Street was looking for. China is among Apple’s most important sales regions, but Apple is facing strong competition in the region from local competitors including Xiaomi and Huawei.

Apple Intelligence is currently only available in US English, but the company says it will add localized English support in December and additional languages in April.

In an interview with Yahoo Finance’s Josh Lipton, Apple CFO Luca Maestri explained that the rollout of Apple Intelligence over the next few quarters could mean the company sees a different type of sales cycle this time around.

The software is also only compatible with the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, as well as the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro lines, which means users with older phones will need to upgrade to access the platform. And the hope, at least for Apple and its investors, is that the move will help spark a new iPhone sales supercycle.

Apple’s first set of Apple Intelligence capabilities is relatively tame, with notification summaries serving as the lone standout. But the next Apple Intelligence update will include ChatGPT integration and the debut of Apple’s Visual Intelligence, which could drive more interest in the company’s latest and greatest devices.