Make no mistake, iPhone sales grew in June quarter because people were panic-buying them ahead of tariffs

iPhone sales saw an unusually high double-digit growth in the June quarter due in part to fears over price rises ahead of Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs.

Hand holding an iPhone 16 in the Desert Titanium color finish.
iPhone 16 in the Desert Titanium color finish. Image: Sayan Majhi/Unsplash

Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, said on a conference call yesterday with Wall Street analysts and investors discussing financial results for the June quarter that people rushing to buy Apple products ahead of tariffs contributed to approximately one percentage point of Apple’s 10 percent sales growth. “We saw evidence in the early part of the quarter, specifically, of some pull-ahead related to the tariff announcements,” Cook told Reuters.

iPhone sales grew 13 percent in the June quarter compared to the year-ago quarter, with overall iPhone revenue growing 10 percent, marking Apple’s largest quarterly revenue growth for the iPhone since December 2021. “It was an exceptional quarter by any measure,” Cook told Steve Kovach at CNBC. “Our installed base of active devices also reached a new all-time high across all product categories and geographic segments, thanks to our very high levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty,” Kevan Parekh, Apple’s finance chief, said on the conference call.

The impact of tariffs

Apple took an $800 million hit in the quarter because of tariffs, and anticipates an additional $1.1 billion in the September quarter. In response to tariffs, most of the iPhones imported and sold in the United States are now made in India, where Apple’s production partners have manufacturing facilities. “India currently accounts for more than a fifth of global iPhone production and has already surpassed China to become the top supplier of the device to the United States market,” Bloomberg recently reported.

“Our installed base of active devices also reached a new all-time high across all product categories and geographic segments, thanks to our very high levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty.” Apple rencetly sold its 3 billonth iPhone since the device made its debut in 2007, the company’s marketing chief Greg Joswiak wrote on X (Twitter). The company passed one billion iPhones sold in 2016, meaning it’s managed to ship two billion iPhones between 2016 and 2025.

The iPhone 16 lineup is more popular with consumers than last year’s iPhone 15 lineup. He said Apple saw a record number of people upgrading to a new model in June, chalking this up to the “strength of the product.” “If you look at iPhone, the 16 family grew double-digit as opposed to the 15 family from the year-ago quarter. And so we did set an upgrade record. I think it directly is because of the strength of the product,” he said, adding that the “Mac also set records on upgrade.”

Apple beats expectations for the June quarter

Apple reported revenue of $94 billion, beating expectations, and net quarterly profit of $23.4 billion, or $1.57 per diluted share. These are better results compared with the same 3-month period in 2024, when the company reported $85.8 billion in revenue and net quarterly profit of $21.4 billion, or $1.40 per diluted share.

The Services business raked in $27.4 billion during the quarter, an all-time record for Services revenue, versus the $24.2 billion in Services revenue in the year-ago quarter.

iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe 26 are Apple’s most popular developer betas so far

Cook also said that iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe 26 file as Apple’s most popular developer betas so far. “It’s wonderful to see great momentum building for our platforms,” he said. “iOS 26, macOS 26 and iPadOS 26 are by far the most popular developer betas we’ve had.”

Apple also provides versions for public beta testing, but those betas are not available until July. Many non-developers install developer betas as soon as they become available in June, especially since Apple dropped the $99/year requirement for an Apple Developer Program membership to download developer betas.