Apple's New Chief Faces First Earnings Test as Memory Costs Bite

John Ternus will host his first earnings call as Apple's chief executive on Monday, with investors looking to the company's holiday-quarter forecast to judge whether a blitz of new products can offset rising costs for memory chips. Ternus took the reins from Tim Cook in September after Cook's 15 years at the helm.

Ternus has overseen the introduction of Apple's first foldable phone, the iPhone Duo, along with a smart home hub and the company's first touch-screen laptops. All of those products began shipping during Apple's current fiscal first quarter, amid what Cook had called a '100-year flood' of rising memory costs.

Analysts expect Apple to report a nearly 11% rise in revenue to $113.39 billion for the July-September period, the company's fiscal fourth quarter, according to LSEG data. Net profit is expected to rise about 6% to $29.04 billion, which would mark the weakest profit growth in six quarters.

IPhone sales are projected to climb about 15% to $56.54 billion, slowing from growth of about 22% in the previous three months, while the services business is expected to grow almost 10% to $31.56 billion, its slowest pace in more than three years. Sales in Greater China are expected to jump 29% to $18.7 billion, extending a recovery that has been a swing factor for Apple this year.

The bigger focus, however, will be the outlook for the December quarter, the first full period of iPhone 18 sales and the launch window for the Duo, which went on sale October 23. Bank of America estimates Duo buyers face average delivery waits of 79 days, with shipments stretching into January, and analysts say demand continues to exceed supply despite reported screen problems.