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Apple reports Q4 earnings and revenue slightly above Wall Street estimates

The iPhone maker reported its FY 25 fourth-quarter earnings Thursday.

10/30/25 3:37PM

Apple reported earnings Thursday that beat analysts’ expectations. Revenue for the iPhone maker’s fourth quarter was $102.5 billion, slightly above the $102.2 billion analysts surveyed by FactSet expected and up 8% year over year.

Apple’s diluted earnings per share were $1.85, compared with Wall Street’s $1.78 forecast for the quarter ended in September, which includes a couple weeks’ worth of new iPhone 17 sales.

The company’s fourth-quarter earnings give an indication of how the latest iPhone — which is responsible for most of Apple’s product revenue and nearly half its total revenue — might perform in the company’s all-important holiday quarter. The stock was recently propelled above a $4 trillion market cap, in part by leading indicators that suggested iPhone 17 sales were ahead of last year’s model.

During the company’s earnings call today, investors will be looking for more details on this quarter’s expected iPhone sales as well as for updates on Apple’s AI progress, which has lagged its peers. They will also be paying attention to how tariffs have affected the iPhone maker; on the company’s last earnings call, management said it expected tariffs could cost $1.1 billion during this past quarter.

For Q4, the company’s iPhone sales were $49 billion, shy of the analyst consensus estimate of $50.1 billion but up 6% from the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, the revenue from Apple’s Services division was $28.8 billion, slightly above the Street’s $28.2 billion forecast. Its Services revenue, while less visible, is increasingly important to the company’s top line. That segment includes everything from the revenue it makes from the App Store and iCloud storage to Apple TV and the ~$20 billion a year Google pays it to be the default search engine on its products.

“Today, Apple is very proud to report a September quarter revenue record of $102.5 billion, including a September quarter revenue record for iPhone and an all-time revenue record for Services,” CEO Tim Cook said in the earnings release.

China sales were a disappointing $14.5 billion, below analysts’ expectation of $15.5 billion.

The stock is up about 3.5% aftermarket.

Rani Molla1m

Nearly 20% of Meta’s Chinese ad revenue came from scams and other banned content: report

Meta found that 19% of the $18 billion in ad sales in China last year came from ads for scams, illegal gambling, pornography, and other banned content, according a new report from Reuters, which examined the company’s internal documents. The latest report comes on the heels of another Reuters investigation that found 10% of its global revenue last year came from such ads. Chinese advertisers represent a growing share of the company’s revenue.

To combat the situation, Meta created an anti-fraud team that briefly managed to cut back the rate of problematic ads, but after CEO Mark Zuckerberg weighed in, the group was disbanded. Fraud rates then returned to 16% of Meta’s China revenue by mid-2025.

The trove of documents, Reuters said, “reveals Meta’s efforts over that period to understand the scale of abuse on its platforms and the company’s reluctance to introduce fixes that could undermine its business and revenues.”

Meta tolerates rampant ad fraud from China to safeguard billions in revenue

David Crowther, Millie Giles, Hyunsoo Rim, Tom Jones, Claire Yubin Oh

ROAD TO SOMEWHERE

A whistle-stop tour of the state of artificial intelligence

Taking stock of the winners, losers, and users of the AI revolution so far.

Surreal colorful desert with straight road heading to stunning big sun.

Rani Molla1h

Dan Ives’ rosy predictions for Tesla

Wedbush Securities analyst and Tesla bull Dan Ives is excited for the company’s new year and next decade. To demonstrate, Ives, who says he “never viewed Tesla simply as a car company,” published a series of characteristically bold predictions today. Here’s what he thinks.

Autonomous expectations:

Aggressive Robotaxi expansion across the US next year, reaching 30-plus cities.
Volume production of Cybercabs beginning in April or May, with full-scale production of autonomous vehicles and robotics ramping later in the year.
Tesla will command about 70% of the global autonomous market over the next decade (a view that differs from Morgan Stanley’s).
Full Self-Driving penetration could rise above 50% (up from 12% now), which Ives said would “change the financial model/margins” for Tesla.

Regulatory regression:

Federal regulatory barriers around FSD/autonomous driving will ease significantly under President Trump, according to Ives.
He expects an executive order in early 2026 that would shift more authority to federal regulators and reduce state-level control over autonomous driving rules.

Financial predictions:

With a current ~$1.4 trillion market cap, Tesla could reach $2 trillion within the next year, with a bull case of $3 trillion by end of 2026.
Ives reiterated his $600 price target and “outperform” rating.
In a bull case scenario, he sees Tesla, now around $465, at $800 within 12 to 18 months.

Rani Molla3h

Tesla is testing Robotaxis in Austin without people in the front (or back)

It looks like Tesla’s driverless cars are finally ditching the driver. On Sunday, eyewitnesses spotted at least two Robotaxis driving around Austin without safety monitors — the Tesla employees who’ve been stationed in the front seats since the service launched in June.

In a post on X, CEO Elon Musk confirmed that the company is testing the service “with no occupants in the car” — so no safety monitors or passengers.

The development suggests that Tesla is making progress toward its promise, announced on its last earnings call, of removing safety drivers from the ride-sharing service in “at least large parts of Austin” by year’s end. Just last week at an xAI event, Musk reiterated that timeline.

Slowly, then all at once
— Tesla (@Tesla) December 15, 2025

Having a truly autonomous ride-hailing service would bring Tesla closer to catching up with Google’s Waymo, which is leading the battle for the driverless future. Tesla ultimately hopes to use its autonomous tech to turn much of its existing fleet into driverless cars and quickly scale its Robotaxi service — a move that would help prove itself to be an AI company rather than just a car company.

Always ahead of the curve, Musk last week told a Google executive that “Waymo never really had a chance against Tesla.”

Small cities, big data centers