Apple (AAPL) is ramping up for a busy spring. It’s the kind of “quietly huge” setup that AAPL stock investors love.
She plans several launches. One big narrative will dominate. And the scoreboard could not be clearer.
For me, the narrative unfolds with Apple’s latest earnings. CEO Tim Cook was dealing with superlatives when he described the December quarter as a “a remarkable, record-breaking quarter.”
Apple reported $143.8 billion in the income and said that its installed base completed 2.5 billion active devices. That’s the kind of scale that makes even “boring” updates become important events in the ecosystem.
But the scoreboard is starting to change. In the earnings call, Cook said that Apple continues to see “market prices for memory increase significantly.”
The comments suggest that Apple is issuing a reminder: The next few quarters may be less about demand and more about protecting its margins.
I am sure you have seen examples within your family of those who want to cling to their perfectly functional old iPhones. The most common reason, at least in my experience, is that the new ones are too expensive.
Now the biggest name users connected to iPhone are Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, and Mark Zuckerberg. I’m confident that their wallets won’t get any lighter because of the newest version of the iPhone.
However, Apple aims to prioritize the needs of the average user this time. That’s why in the next wave, you have to make things more affordable, focus on margin growth to widen the funnel.
The launch of iPhone 17e is imminent, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
It will carry four improvements that are important in the real world. A19, MagSafe (as described by The Verge), Apple’s newest C1X modemand her N1 connectivity chip are the updates included in what is being launched “imminent.”
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I bet you’re thinking, “Hey, I know a person who passed on the cheap iPhone because it felt like a ‘yeah, but…’ device.” However, MagSafe is looking to shake things up with car mounts, wallets, charging stands, and the entire accessory ecosystem.
And Apple is reportedly keeping the price up $599targeting emerging markets and enterprise buyers. These buyers, in principle, care about reliability and total cost of ownership more than status.
The story of the spring iPad is simple and basic. The focus is on the same shells, with faster chips.
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the iPad entry is expected to jump to A18according to Mac Rumors. That will bring Apple intelligence support for Apple’s cheapest tablet for the first time.
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the iPad Air they will move towards M4.
If you’re the person everyone contacts when an older iPad starts to fail, this is the kind of update that counts.
A base model that can run Apple’s AI features cleanly gives Apple a simple position for schools, families and companies that buy in bulk.
Related: Apple History: Company timeline and facts
The hardware is responsible for selling units, but the software sells trust.
Gurman’s reporting says that Apple will release the first developer beta iOS 26.4 the week of February 23rd.
Siri will also be available again after a long wait. The Apple Intelligence parts are likely to come out there.
The recent updates are not eye-catching. I hate it when we talk in hyperbolic terms about any stock. This is what I like about the recent updates.
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Maxim upgraded Apple to buy from hold on (PT $300).
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KGI securities upgraded Apple to surpass from neutral (PT $306).
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Separately, JP Morgan he repeated his overweight rating and lifted its target for $315.
The short-term push-pull trajectory is evident, though. Demand, all things considered, remains very strong. However, the tension in component prices, particularly memory, is becoming more pronounced.
Apple is not traditional when it comes to revenue guidance.
Here are two simple ways for investors to frame the next quarter.
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Back of pack range (year-on-year growth from last year’s March quarter): Apple did $95.4B in fiscal Q2 2025 revenue. If Apple prints +10% to +12% YoY (roughly in line with where many sell-side expectations are clustered), implying around $104.9 billion to $106.8 billion this March quarter.
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“Road” snapshot (consensus-style framing): FactSet estimates cited by Investor’s Business Daily line up with the March quarter at approx $104.9 billion in revenue and $1.84 EPS.
However, there is a margin factor as well. Apple is guiding for gross margins for the current quarter of 48% to 49%; Cook is marking memory costs as a growing headwind beyond Q2.
Related: Wall Street Urgently Warns Software Stocks After Anthropic AI Moves
This story was originally published by TheStreet on February 11, 2026, where it first appeared in the Investing section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.