Apple reported quarterly revenue of $143.8 billion for the period ending December 27, representing a 16% year-over-year increase and marking its highest first-quarter sales ever. iPhone revenue grew by more than 20% year on year, led by robust demand for the new flagship models in Greater China and the United States. Services revenue also hit a record $30 billion, up 14% from a year earlier, driven by App Store, cloud and subscription businesses. CEO Tim Cook highlighted that active installed devices now exceed 2.5 billion, underpinning both hardware and recurring software growth.

Bloomberg News reported that Apple lost at least four senior AI researchers—Yinfei Yang, Haoxuan You, Bailin Wang and Zirui Wang—to competitors in late January. Yang has founded a startup, You and Wang joined Meta, and Zirui Wang moved to Google DeepMind. In addition, longtime executive Stuart Bowers, previously head of the abandoned self-driving effort and a leader on Siri improvement, also left for DeepMind. Internal sources describe these exits as symptomatic of turbulence within Apple’s AI unit and reflect employee unease over technology handoffs to Google under the company’s current AI partnership strategy.

Following the record quarter, Apple shares are trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio near historical highs, reflecting investor confidence in its ecosystem but leaving limited margin for multiple expansion. Market analysts note that while services and recurring revenue streams support long-term earnings visibility, peak iPhone growth and intensifying competition in wearables and AI could challenge top-line momentum. As a result, Apple’s valuation sits at approximately 25 times forward earnings, above the average of its large-cap peers, suggesting the stock is fairly priced relative to its projected mid-teens annual revenue growth target.