Apple Hardware Beat, Services Slide

Apple just posted a record-breaking quarter, with $109.4 billion in revenue and standout growth across iPhone and Mac. The company is squeezing more profit from premium hardware, hiking prices and leaning into upgrades, even as a global chip shortage and rising memory costs threaten to slow shipments. But here’s the catch: guidance for next quarter is much cooler, and Tim Cook is warning that supply constraints will get worse — setting up a critical test of just how much Apple can charge before buyers push back.

The real tension is in Apple’s Services business, where new global rules and court rulings are hitting App Store revenue harder and sooner than expected. CFO Kevan Parekh flagged a rare sequential dip, blaming regulatory changes in Europe, Japan, and the US — and a U.S. court decision that currently lets apps steer users to pay outside Apple’s system without a commission. With mobile gaming making up the bulk of App Store cash, the risk isn’t just future earnings, it’s pressure on Apple’s high-margin engine right now.

This episode draws on sharp reporting from Axios, The Verge, and 9to5Mac, and features analysis of Tim Cook’s last quarter at the helm before John Ternus steps in as CEO.

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