Item 1. Business
Company Background
The Company designs, manufactures and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and sells a variety of related services. The Company’s fiscal year is the 52- or 53-week period that ends on the last Saturday of September.
Products
iPhone
iPhone® is the Company’s line of smartphones based on its iOS operating system. The iPhone line includes iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone Air™, iPhone 17, iPhone 16 and iPhone 16e.
Mac
Mac® is the Company’s line of personal computers based on its macOS® operating system. The Mac line includes laptops MacBook Air® and MacBook Pro®, as well as desktops iMac®, Mac mini®, Mac Studio® and Mac Pro®.
iPad
iPad® is the Company’s line of multipurpose tablets based on its iPadOS® operating system. The iPad line includes iPad Pro®, iPad Air®, iPad and iPad mini®.
Wearables, Home and Accessories
Wearables includes smartwatches, wireless headphones and spatial computers. The Company’s line of smartwatches, based on its watchOS® operating system, includes Apple Watch® Series 11, Apple Watch SE® 3 and Apple Watch Ultra® 3. The Company’s line of wireless headphones includes AirPods®, AirPods Pro®, AirPods Max® and Beats® products. Apple Vision Pro™ is the Company’s spatial computer based on its visionOS® operating system.
Home includes Apple TV 4K®, the Company’s media streaming and gaming device based on its tvOS® operating system, and HomePod® and HomePod mini®, high-fidelity wireless smart speakers.
Accessories includes Apple-branded and third-party accessories.
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Services
Advertising
The Company’s advertising services include third-party licensing arrangements and the Company’s own advertising platforms.
AppleCare
The Company offers a portfolio of fee-based service and support products under the AppleCare® brand. The offerings provide priority access to Apple technical support, access to the global Apple authorized service network for repair and replacement services, and in many cases additional coverage for instances of accidental damage or theft and loss, depending on the country and type of product.
Cloud Services
The Company’s cloud services store and keep customers’ content up-to-date and available across multiple Apple devices and Windows personal computers.
Digital Content
The Company operates various platforms, including the App Store®, that allow customers to discover and download applications and digital content, such as books, music, video, games and podcasts.
The Company also offers digital content through subscription-based services, including Apple Arcade®, a game service; Apple Fitness+®, a personalized fitness service; Apple Music®, which offers users a curated listening experience with on-demand radio stations; Apple News+®, a news and magazine service; and Apple TV®, which offers exclusive original content and live sports.
Payment Services
The Company offers payment services, including Apple Card®, a co-branded credit card, and Apple Pay®, a cashless payment service.
Segments
The Company manages its business primarily on a geographic basis. The Company’s reportable segments consist of the Americas, Europe, Greater China, Japan and Rest of Asia Pacific. Americas includes both North and South America. Europe includes European countries, as well as India, the Middle East and Africa. Greater China includes China mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Rest of Asia Pacific includes Australia, New Zealand and those Asian countries not included in the Company’s other reportable segments. Although the reportable segments provide similar hardware and software products and similar services, each one is managed separately to better align with the location of the Company’s customers and distribution partners and the unique market dynamics of each geographic region.
Markets and Distribution
The Company’s customers are primarily in the consumer, small and mid-sized business, education, enterprise and government markets. The Company sells its products and resells third-party products in most of its major markets directly to customers through its retail and online stores and its direct sales force. The Company sells its services in the same markets through its various service platforms. The Company also employs a variety of indirect distribution channels, such as third-party cellular network carriers and other resellers, for the sale of its products and certain of its services. During 2025, the Company’s net sales through its direct and indirect distribution channels accounted for 40% and 60%, respectively, of total net sales.
Competition
The markets for the Company’s products and services are highly competitive and are characterized by aggressive price competition, downward pressure on gross margins, continual improvement in product performance, and price sensitivity on the part of consumers and businesses. The markets in which the Company competes are further defined by frequent introduction of new products and services, short product life cycles, evolving industry standards, and rapid adoption of technological advancements by competitors. Many of the Company’s competitors seek to compete primarily through aggressive pricing and very low cost structures, and by imitating the Company’s products and infringing on its intellectual property.
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The Company’s ability to compete successfully depends heavily on ensuring the continuing and timely introduction of innovative new products, services and technologies to the marketplace. The Company designs and develops nearly the entire solution for its products, including the hardware, operating system, numerous software applications and related services. Principal competitive factors important to the Company include price, product and service features (including security features), relative price and performance, product and service quality and reliability, design and technology innovation, a strong third-party software and accessories ecosystem, marketing and distribution capability, service and support, corporate reputation, and the ability to effectively protect and enforce the Company’s intellectual property rights.
The Company is focused on expanding its market opportunities related to smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and services. The Company’s products and services face substantial competition from companies that have significant technical, marketing, distribution and other resources, as well as established hardware, software, and service offerings with large customer bases. In addition, the Company faces significant competition as competitors imitate the Company’s product features and applications within their products to offer more competitive solutions. The Company also expects competition to intensify as competitors imitate the Company’s approach to providing components seamlessly within their offerings or work collaboratively to offer integrated solutions. Some of the Company’s competitors have broad product lines, low-priced products, large installed bases of active devices, and large customer bases. Competition has been particularly intense as competitors have aggressively cut prices and lowered product margins. Certain competitors have the resources, experience or cost structures to provide products and services at little or no profit or even at a loss. The Company has a minority market share in the global smartphone, personal computer, tablet and wearables markets, and some of the markets in which the Company competes have from time to time experienced little to no growth or contracted overall.
Supply of Components
Although most components essential to the Company’s business are generally available from multiple sources, certain components are currently obtained from single or limited sources. The Company also competes for various components with other participants in the markets for smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories. Therefore, many components used by the Company, including those that are available from multiple sources, are at times subject to industry-wide shortage and significant commodity pricing fluctuations. Restrictions on international trade can increase the cost or limit the availability of the Company’s products and the components and rare earths and other raw materials that go into them.
The Company uses some custom components that are not commonly used by its competitors, and new products introduced by the Company often utilize custom components available from only one source. When a component or product uses new technologies, initial capacity constraints may exist until the suppliers’ yields have matured or their manufacturing capacities have increased. The Company has entered into agreements for the supply of many components; however, the Company may not be able to extend or renew agreements for the supply of components on similar terms, or at all, and may not be successful in obtaining sufficient quantities from its suppliers or in a timely manner, or in identifying and obtaining sufficient quantities from an alternative source. In addition, component suppliers may fail, be subject to consolidation within a particular industry, or decide to concentrate on the production of common components instead of components customized to meet the Company’s requirements, further limiting the Company’s ability to obtain sufficient quantities of components on commercially reasonable terms, or at all.
Research and Development
Because the industries in which the Company competes are characterized by rapid technological advances, the Company’s ability to compete successfully depends heavily upon its ability to ensure a continual and timely flow of competitive products, services and technologies to the marketplace. The Company continues to develop new technologies to enhance existing products and services, and to expand the range of its offerings through research and development (“R&D”), licensing of intellectual property and acquisition of third-party businesses and technology.
Intellectual Property
The Company currently holds a broad collection of intellectual property rights relating to certain aspects of its hardware, software and services. This includes patents, designs, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and other forms of intellectual property rights in the U.S. and various foreign countries. Although the Company believes the ownership of such intellectual property rights is an important factor in differentiating its business and that its success does depend in part on such ownership, the Company relies primarily on the innovative skills, technical competence and marketing abilities of its personnel.
The Company regularly files patent, design, copyright and trademark applications to protect innovations arising from its hardware, software and service research, development, design and marketing, and is currently pursuing thousands of applications around the world. Over time, the Company has accumulated a large portfolio of issued and registered intellectual property rights around the world. No single intellectual property right is solely responsible for protecting the Company’s products and services. The Company believes the duration of its intellectual property rights is adequate relative to the expected lives of its products and services.
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In addition to Company-owned intellectual property, many of the Company’s products and services include technology or intellectual property that must be licensed from third parties. It may be necessary in the future to seek or renew licenses relating to various aspects of the Company’s products, processes and services. While the Company has generally been able to obtain such licenses on commercially reasonable terms in the past, there is no guarantee that such licenses could be obtained in the future on reasonable terms or at all.
Business Seasonality and Product Introductions
The Company has historically experienced higher net sales in its first quarter compared to other quarters in its fiscal year due in part to seasonal holiday demand. Additionally, new product and service introductions can significantly impact net sales, cost of sales and operating expenses. The timing of product introductions can also impact the Company’s net sales to its indirect distribution channels as these channels are filled with new inventory following a product launch, and channel inventory of an older product often declines as the launch of a newer product approaches. Net sales can also be affected when consumers and distributors anticipate a product introduction.
Human Capital
The Company believes that its people play an important role in its success, and strives to attract, develop and retain the best talent. The Company works to create a culture of collaboration, one where people with a broad range of backgrounds and perspectives can come together to innovate and do the best work of their lives. The Company is an equal opportunity employer committed to inclusion and to providing a workplace free of harassment or discrimination. As of September 27, 2025, the Company had approximately 166,000 full-time equivalent employees.
The Company believes that compensation should be competitive and equitable, and offers discretionary cash and equity awards to enable employees to share in the Company’s success. The Company recognizes its people are most likely to thrive when they have the resources to meet their needs and the time and support to succeed in their professional and personal lives. In support of this, the Company offers a wide variety of benefits for employees around the world, including health, wellness and time away.
The Company invests in resources to help its people develop and achieve their career goals. The Company offers programs through Apple University on leadership, management and influence, as well as Apple culture and values. Team members can also take advantage of online classes for business, technical and personal development.
The Company believes that open and honest communication among team members, managers and leaders helps create an open, collaborative work environment where everyone can contribute, grow and succeed. Team members are encouraged to come to their managers with questions, feedback or concerns, and the Company conducts surveys that gauge employee sentiment in areas like career development, manager performance and inclusion.
The Company is committed to the safety and security of its team members everywhere it operates. The Company supports employees with general safety, security and crisis management training, and by putting specific programs in place for those working in potentially high-hazard environments.
Available Information
The Company’s Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to reports filed pursuant to Sections 13(a) and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (“Exchange Act”), are filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Such reports and other information filed by the Company with the SEC are available free of charge at investor.apple.com/investor-relations/sec-filings/default.aspx when such reports are available on the SEC’s website. The Company periodically provides certain information for investors on its corporate website, www.apple.com, and its investor relations website, investor.apple.com. This includes press releases and other information about financial performance, information on corporate governance, and details related to the Company’s annual meeting of shareholders. The information contained on the websites referenced in this Form 10-K is not incorporated by reference into this filing. Further, the Company’s references to website URLs are intended to be inactive textual references only.
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