Tim Cook’s Final Earnings Call: Record iPhone Sales and Future Pricing Woes

Demand for Apple’s iPhone and MacBook product lines surged during the third quarter of 2026, signaling record-breaking revenues for June. This was the toplining statement from Apple’s outgoing CEO, Tim Cook, during his final earnings call for the company on Thursday. This news, which found iPhone sales increasing by 22% to $54 billion, Mac sales of $10 billion (thanks, in large part, to the popularity of its entry level MacBook Neo), the iPad at $6 billion, wearables, home and accessories at almost $8 billion, and services at $31 billion, was relayed with a celebratory tone as Apple raked in roughly $109 billion in net sales for almost $30 billion in net income during the quarter. “It’s an incredibly strong iPhone and Mac product cycle that has really yielded demand beyond our expectations,” Cook said. Yet concerns about future price hikes dampened the discussion, given the ongoing global memory shortage and potential supply constraints ahead. Apple raised prices on many of its products in June due to the ongoing RAM shortage caused by the high memory needs of AI tools and products. As supply chain constraints on memory chips persist, a large portion of the questions asked of Cook centered on price uncertainty, product availability and a potential drop in product sales going forward, depending on economic conditions and customers’ comfort with how much they’ll spend. “On the pricing front, we reluctantly raised prices,” Cook explained. “I would say we did it because we’re in what I would characterize as a 100-year flood on the memory pricing, with exponential increases in memory prices, and so that was the rationale for it in terms of our philosophy on dollars or percentages.” What’s the move going forward? Cook said Apple is looking at the bigger picture and thinking about the situation over the long term, rather than treating the next quarter as “a 90-day clock.” That said, he expects memory pricing to continue its upward trend over the next few months, which means a price hike could be on the horizon. He was cagey in giving any solid details on the matter, which he called “unclear.” “We’re evaluating all options,” Cook added. Cook is ending his 15-year run as Apple’s CEO, and before he took questions from members of the press, he took time to express his gratitude, optimism for the company’s future and praise for incoming CEO John Ternus, who will take over on Sept. 1. “He is truly one of a kind, and there is no better person to take the helm of the company,” Cook said. “I couldn’t be more confident in his leadership, in our executive team and in the extraordinary people at Apple who are determined to enrich the lives of our users all over the world.” Aaron Pruner Writer Aaron covers what's exciting and new in the world of home entertainment and streaming TV. Previously, he wrote about entertainment for places like Rotten Tomatoes, Inverse, TheWrap, Washington Post and The Hollywood Reporter. Aaron is also an actor and stay-at-home dad, which means coffee is his friend. See full bio The Latest from Aaron Tim Cook’s Final Earnings Call: Record iPhone Sales and Future Pricing Woes Mark Zuckerberg Is Putting All His Chips on an AI Future, Whether You Want It or Not Crunchyroll and Starz Bundle Up on Prime Video Computing Guides Laptops Best Laptop Best Chromebook Best Budget Laptop Best Cheap Gaming Laptop Best 2-in-1 Laptop Best Windows Laptop Best Macbook Best Gaming Laptop Best Macbook Deals Desktops & Monitors Best