Reading Between the Lines of Apple’s 4Q25 Earnings Q&A With Analysts
Today's Above Avalon Daily update includes the following story:
Reading Between the Lines of Apple’s 4Q25 Earnings Q&A With Analysts
Happy Wednesday everyone.
For today’s update, we will continue our Apple 4Q25 earnings review with the latest installment of Reading Between the Lines. This will be a substantial update which explains why it is being published a day later than expected. Instead of splitting it up into two or even three updates, it is being kept together in one large update. We will conclude the week tomorrow (Thursday) with a 10-K examination which will raise a few related financial topics.
After recapping each question-and-answer exchange that occurred on the call between Apple and sell-side analysts, we will go over my response to the exchange. Let’s go beyond what was talked about on the call with the 16th installment of Reading Between the Lines of Apple's earnings Q&A with analysts.
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Reading Between the Lines of Apple’s 3Q25 Earnings Q&A With Analysts
Happy Wednesday everyone. Given some repairs that are taking place at Above Avalon HQ, the release timing for everything this week is going to be a bit different. There are three remaining daily updates this week. Given what may be some breaking news on the politics/tariffs front, the discussion topics for the remaining two updates may be adjusted at the last minute.
For today’s update, we will conclude our Apple 3Q25 earnings review with the latest installment of Reading Between the Lines. Apple’s 3Q25 earnings call with analysts touched upon most of the interesting discussion topics worth going over from earnings. There are a few remaining items like margins and capital management that could use more discussion. We will see if those topics can be fit into the schedule later this week.
Reading Between the Lines of Apple’s 3Q25 Earnings Q&A With Analysts
After recapping each question-and-answer exchange that occurred on the call between Apple and sell-side analysts, we will go over my response to the exchange. Let’s go beyond what was talked about on the call with the 15th installment of Reading Between the Lines of Apple's earnings Q&A with analysts.
NOTE: The following earnings call questions (“Q (Sell-Side Firm)”) and answers (“Cook” or “Parekh”) have been cut, summarized, paraphrased, and rearranged for clarity. To read the full question and answer exchanges, The Motely Fool offers a written transcript here.
iPhone
Q (TD Cowen): How was iPhone channel inventory?
Cook: iPhone channel inventory fell throughout the quarter with inventory ending toward the low end of our targeted range.
My response: There was no sign of Apple stuffing the channel with excess iPhone inventory. Such excess inventory would have had the effect of artificially boosting 3Q25 iPhone revenue.
Q (UBS): What drove iPhone strength in 3Q25?
Parekh: iPhone 16 family strength vs. the iPhone 15 family last year. We also recently introduced the iPhone 16e.
My response: The takeaway is that
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Member Privileges and Benefits
Become an Above Avalon member and receive the following privileges and benefits:
Exclusive Analysis. Receive the Above Avalon Daily newsletter, widely-recognized as the leading daily newsletter dedicated to Apple. Now in its tenth year.
Archive Access. Access previous newsletters sent to members.
Member Forum Access. Access all channels in the Above Avalon forum in Discord.
Email Access. Receive timely responses from Neil to email inquiries.
Access to Add-ons. Customize a membership with the AVALON, Podcasts, Inside Orchard, and Financial Models add-ons.
Above Avalon Support. Play an active role in supporting Above Avalon as an independent voice and resource.