Apple Expected to Report Best Financial Results Ever Today Amid Return to Growth

Apple is scheduled to report its earnings results for the first quarter of the 2017 fiscal year at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time today, revealing how much money it made between September 25 and December 31 of last year. The holiday shopping season typically makes this quarter Apple's most lucrative of the year.

apple-earnings-q1-17
Apple benefitted from an extra week of sales in the quarter—14 versus the usual 13—due to a step it takes every 5 years or so to realign its September-ending fiscal quarter with the typical December-ending calendar quarter. Given the week fell between Christmas and the New Year, the seven extra days of sales could be significant.

Apple's official guidance calls for revenue of between $76 billion and $78 billion, which would be its highest revenue in a single quarter ever—topping its current record of $75.9 billion in the year-ago quarter. Apple also expects gross margin between 38% and 38.5%, compared to 40.1% in the year-ago quarter.

The average expectation among Wall Street analysts is that Apple will report revenue around the $77 billion mark, or roughly the midpoint of Apple's guidance. Herein is a list of some of those predictions, ordered from lowest to highest, based on compiled averages and research notes obtained by MacRumors:

• Mark Moskowitz of Barclays: $76.6 billion
• Timothy Arcuri of Cowen and Company: $76.68 billion
• Steven Milunovich of UBS: $76.8 billion
• Amit Daryanani of RBC Capital Markets: $76.9 billion
• Rod Hall of J.P. Morgan: $76.9 billion
• Bloomberg News compiled average: $77 billion
• Yahoo Finance compiled average: $77.38 billion
• Reuters compiled average: $77.4 billion
• Brian White of Drexel Hamilton: $77.61 billion
• Neil Cybart of Above Avalon: $80 billion

The record-breaking revenue would put an end to Apple's past three consecutive quarters of declining revenue on a year-over-year basis, which resulted in the company's first annual revenue decline since 2001. Prior to 2016, Apple had an impressive streak of 51 consecutive quarters of uninterrupted sales growth.

While iPhone sales dropped for the first time ever last year, the smartphone is still Apple's most important product by far—it accounted for 60% of the company's revenue last quarter. The consensus among analysts is that Apple will have sold around 76 million iPhones, up slightly from 74.8 million in the year-ago quarter.

Most analysts believe a higher ratio of customers purchased a Plus-sized iPhone this launch, with the dual-lens camera in particular enticing customers to choose the 5.5-inch model over the smaller iPhone 7.

Above Avalon analyst Neil Cybart estimates Apple sold 5.6 million Macs in the quarter, a 5% increase over the 5.3 million it sold in the year-ago period. The quarter was highlighted by the launch of long-awaited MacBook Pro with Touch Bar models in late October, which likely inflated sales.

iPad sales may remain on a longstanding downward trend based on units, but more expensive iPad Pro models have led to higher average selling prices and increased revenue for Apple's tablet business.
above-avalon-1q17
Cybart expects revenue from Apple's growing services category to rise to $6.7 billion, a 22% increase over the $6.1 billion it reported in the year-ago quarter. These earnings are derived from the App Store, iTunes, Apple Music, iCloud storage subscriptions, AppleCare, Apple Pay, licensing, and other services.

Investors will be looking closely at "Other Products" to measure the impact that Apple Watch Series 2 models and AirPods have on the category's revenue, which Cybart forecasts will rise 9% year-over-year. The category also includes sales of the Apple TV, Beats products, iPods, and many accessories.

Cybart expects Apple's guidance will point towards continued growth next quarter, suggesting the 2017 fiscal year will remain on an upward trend.

MacRumors will be providing live coverage of Apple's earnings results conference call with CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time today.

Tags: AAPL, Earnings

Popular Stories

iphone 16 pro models 1

Here's How the iPhone 17 Pro Max Will Compare to the iPhone 17 Pro

Saturday July 5, 2025 1:00 pm PDT by
Apple should unveil the iPhone 17 series in September, and there might be one bigger difference between the Pro and Pro Max models this year. As always, the Pro Max model will be larger than the Pro model:iPhone 17 Pro: 6.3-inch display iPhone 17 Pro Max: 6.9-inch displayGiven the Pro Max is physically larger than the Pro, it has more internal space, allowing for a larger battery and...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro to Reverse iPhone X Design Decision

Monday July 7, 2025 9:46 am PDT by
Since the iPhone X in 2017, all of Apple's highest-end iPhone models have featured either stainless steel or titanium frames, but it has now been rumored that this design decision will be coming to an end with the iPhone 17 Pro models later this year. In a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo today, the account Instant Digital said that the iPhone 17 Pro models will have an aluminum...
imac video apple feature

Apple Launching These 15+ Products Later This Year

Sunday July 6, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
The calendar has turned to July, meaning that 2025 is now more than half over. And while the summer months are often quiet for Apple, the company still has more than a dozen products coming later this year, according to rumors. Below, we have outlined at least 15 new Apple products that are expected to launch later this year, along with key rumored features for each. iPhone 17 Series iPho...
iOS 26 Feature

Everything New in iOS 26 Beta 3

Monday July 7, 2025 1:20 pm PDT by
Apple is continuing to refine and update iOS 26, and beta three features smaller changes than we saw in beta 2, plus further tweaks to the Liquid Glass design. Apple is gearing up for the next phase of beta testing, and the company has promised that a public beta is set to come out in July. Transparency In some apps like Apple Music, Podcasts, and the App Store, Apple has toned down the...
iPhone Car Key Kia

Here's Which Vehicles Offer iPhone Car Keys

Sunday July 6, 2025 3:03 pm PDT by
In 2020, Apple added a digital car key feature to its Wallet app, allowing users to lock, unlock, and start a compatible vehicle with an iPhone or Apple Watch. The feature is currently offered by select automakers, including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and a handful of others, and it is set to expand further. Apple has a web page with a list of vehicle models that ...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Friday July 4, 2025 1:05 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are just over two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:Apple logo repositioned: Apple's logo may have a lower position on the back of the iPhone 17 Pro models, compared to previous...
iphone 17 pro render majin bu

New iPhone 17 Pro Renders Highlight Apple Logo and MagSafe Design Changes

Sunday July 6, 2025 8:43 pm PDT by
New renders today provide the best look yet relocated Apple logo and redesigned MagSafe magnet array of the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. Image via Majin Bu. Several of the design changes coming to the iPhone 17 Pro model have been rumored for some time, such as the elongated camera bump that spans the full width of the device, with the LiDAR Scanner and flash moving to the right side. ...
iPhone 14 Pro Dynamic Island

iPhone 17 Models Rumored to Feature Redesigned Dynamic Island

Monday July 7, 2025 7:38 am PDT by
iPhone 17 models will feature a redesigned Dynamic Island user interface, according to a post today from Digital Chat Station, an account with more than three million followers on Chinese social media platform Weibo. The account has accurately leaked some information regarding future Apple products in the past. The account did not share any specific details about the alleged changes that are ...
Prime Day 25 Feature Warm Triad

The Best Prime Day Deals on AirPods, iPads, MacBooks, and More

Monday July 7, 2025 10:55 am PDT by
Amazon is back with its annual summertime Prime Day event, lasting for four days from July 8-11, the longest Prime Day yet. As it does every year, Prime Day offers shoppers a huge selection of deals across Amazon's storefront. With the event now underway, we're tracking numerous all-time low prices on Apple gear right now. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a...

Top Rated Comments

skippermonkey Avatar
110 months ago
Terrible news. It will just reinforce Cook's strategy and result in fewer computer products that Apple fans actually want to buy. I just want a new Mac Pro. Is that too much to ask of the richest company in the world? Windows here I come... (sadly)
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macbookhair Avatar
110 months ago
If you're squeezing every last ounce of profit out of a company, you can see great increases. However, the long term implications of doing so, especially when this is at the expense of product innovation and service quality, are decline and eventual financial difficulties as customer goodwill is lost and the company falls behind the market.

So even if the results are good, it's not necessarily evidence that Apple is going to be OK in the long term. Especially if they are still heavily reliant on the iPhone for much of that revenue. If we were seeing world-beating products and innovation from Apple. it would be different, but we haven't been.
Score: 39 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dumastudetto Avatar
110 months ago
Biggest ever earnings? That cannot be right. I've been told by many on here that Tim Cook is doing a terrible job and should be fired. #confused
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jscooper22 Avatar
110 months ago
Good, take some of the money and build me a real pro machine for rendering and network services. Thanks.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Chicane-UK Avatar
110 months ago
.
Will be a hoot watching the sad (watchbands, TC must be fired, Apple is doomed, emoji, margins, Apple is greedy, no "pro" machines, wah...where's my bottle and soft blankie) trying to explain the excellent results away.

Must be Apple withholding inventory again to stimulate demand and numbers, yeah, that's it... always a crowd pleaser for those unable to think rationally.
Why does everything have to be so black and white for some people? There's plenty of people who are pissed with Apples decision to basically abandon, or majorly neglect their desktop lineup for the sake of products which clearly net them higher margins such as iPhones, etc. Sure, they may be making more money. Great. That doesn't make me any less disappointed with their lineup of desktops. In fact it makes me even more disappointed that with so much wealth and resources behind them, that they're happy to just abandon the product line and customer base that helped get them where they are.

But I guess I best tow the line. Profits are good. Everything else is irrelevent.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
krazzix Avatar
110 months ago
Apple is DOOMED.

Oh no wait... Big earnings are a good thing.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)