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Apple Q2 2026 - $111 billion and Tim Cook's last earnings call

May 3, 2026 · #apple #tim-cook #iphone #earnings #john-ternus #ai

Apple Q2 2026 - $111 billion and Tim Cook’s last earnings call

Apple reported Q2 fiscal 2026 earnings: $111.18 billion revenue, +17% year-over-year. iPhone +22%. But it’s the last earnings call from Tim Cook as CEO before the September 1 handover to John Ternus.

Apple Q2 2026 earnings

April 30, 2026, Thursday. Apple released Q2 fiscal 2026 earnings:

  • Revenue $111.18B (vs $109.66B expected) - +17% YoY from $95.4B
  • EPS $2.01 (vs $1.95 expected)
  • iPhone $56.99B (+22% YoY) - narrowly beat $56.50B
  • Mac $8.4B (beat $8.02B), iPad $6.91B (beat $6.66B), Wearables $7.9B (beat $7.7B)
  • Services $30.98B

iPhone +22% but Wall Street disappointed

Shares dipped slightly after hours. Wall Street expected EVEN MORE. No shock there.

In March Apple launched: iPhone 17e, refreshed iPad Air with M4 chip, plus MacBook Neo $599 for students - the biggest surprise.

Tim Cook’s last call

This is the first earnings call since the April 20 announcement that Cook steps down. September 1, 2026 - Ternus takes over. Cook becomes executive chairman.

Cook has run Apple since 2011 - 15 years. In January 2007 he took over from Jobs. In September 2026 he hands off to Ternus.

A tech era in a nutshell.

My perspective

Apple has a strategic problem. The new CEO - John Ternus - is a hardware engineer. And the world is moving toward AI software.

Cook was the operations guy who scaled hardware to mass-market sales. Ternus is a hardware engineer with no AI software background. Right when Google, OpenAI, Anthropic fight over AI software.

A mismatched move in a mismatched time. The next iPhone (September 2026) will be under Ternus. Will you buy it? Or jump ship?

Sources

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