The 1 Thing You Need to Watch in Apple's Earnings Report

By Jennifer Saibil | January 26, 2026, 1:00 PM

Key Points

The market hasn't been thrilled with the progress of Apple Intelligence.
iPhone sales typically make up about half of the company's total.
10 stocks we like better than Apple ›

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has failed to impress investors with its progress in artificial intelligence (AI), but the market is beginning to realize that with Apple, it's not only about AI. The company has a significant edge over the competition in several ways, and revenue continues to rise despite investor worries about Apple Intelligence.

Management is due to give its regular quarterly update this week. The conference call with analysts is scheduled for Thursday at 5 p.m. ET. Here's the most important thing to watch.

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It's not all AI

The market is sure to take note of progress in AI when Apple reports, but the most important metric to watch is iPhone sales. The iPhone is Apple's most important product, accounting for around half of sales in a typical quarterly report. Whatever else is going on in the company, the popularity of the iPhone is most crucial to its success in the near term.

Reports from third-party consumer research companies have pointed to strong sales of the newest iPhone, and iPhones are typically a strong holiday seller. (The holidays were in the quarter being reported on.) This report is probably the most important of the year for investors to see how customers are reacting to the newest release.

Early in the season, CEO Tim Cook provided some color on how it was going. He said that iPhone sales were already better than Wall Street was expecting, and that the company couldn't even keep up with demand. Look out for updates about how Apple is planning to keep up the momentum and maintain its edge in the space.

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Jennifer Saibil has positions in Apple. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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