--- title: "Affected by the fourth-quarter earnings guidance falling short of expectations and a significant increase in storage chip costs, Apple's stock price plummeted approximately 7% in after-hours trading" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/294466056.md" description: "Apple Inc. released its Q3 financial report for fiscal year 2026, with revenue and net profit exceeding expectations. However, due to Q4 performance guidance being below Wall Street expectations, and impacted by soaring storage chip costs and supply chain bottlenecks, the stock price plummeted about 7% in after-hours trading" datetime: "2026-07-31T06:47:41.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/294466056.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/294466056.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/294466056.md) --- # Affected by the fourth-quarter earnings guidance falling short of expectations and a significant increase in storage chip costs, Apple's stock price plummeted approximately 7% in after-hours trading On July 30, Apple Inc. announced its financial report for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026. Despite the quarterly revenue and net profit exceeding market expectations, Apple's stock price plummeted about 7% in after-hours trading due to multiple factors, including fourth-quarter performance guidance falling short of Wall Street expectations and supply chain bottlenecks caused by soaring global memory chip prices. The financial report indicated that Apple expects total revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026 (ending this September) to grow by 9% to 11% year-over-year. Based on the midpoint of this range, fourth-quarter revenue is estimated to be approximately $113 billion, lower than the average forecast of $114.9 billion from Wall Street analysts. During the earnings call, Apple’s management warned that component supply constraints would continue to suppress the output capacity of hardware product lines such as iPhone, Mac, and iPad in the fourth quarter. Regarding the pressures on the supply chain and profit margins, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that the explosive demand for computing power in global artificial intelligence data center construction has driven up the prices of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and flash memory (NAND), leading to extreme increases in storage chip costs and creating significant cost and supply pressures. Additionally, headwinds in the foreign exchange market are also expected to negatively impact revenue growth in the coming months. From the specific operational data of the third quarter, Apple achieved total revenue of $109.4 billion, a year-over-year increase of 16%; quarterly earnings per share rose to $2.02, surpassing Wall Street analysts' previous forecast of $1.89. By business and region, the iPhone segment was the biggest highlight of the quarter, generating revenue of $54.3 billion, a year-over-year increase of 22%, exceeding market expectations of $53.6 billion; driven by the new MacBook Neo and the MacBook Pro equipped with the M5 chip, Mac revenue surged 29% year-over-year to $10.4 billion. However, iPad revenue for the quarter was $6.19 billion, falling short of market expectations of $6.89 billion; service revenue was $30.7 billion, also slightly below the expected $31.4 billion; sales in Greater China for the quarter were $18.8 billion, lower than the previous expectation of $19.6 billion. This earnings announcement marks the last complete quarterly report presided over by Tim Cook during his 15 years at the helm of Apple. Starting September 1 of this year, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering John Ternus will officially succeed Cook as CEO. To accelerate the implementation of its generative artificial intelligence strategy and enrich its next-generation hardware product line, Apple significantly increased its research and development spending by 32% in the third quarter, reaching $11.7 billion ### Related Stocks - [AAPL.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/AAPL.US.md) - [AAPB.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/AAPB.US.md) - [AAPD.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/AAPD.US.md) - [AAPU.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/AAPU.US.md) - [AAPX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/AAPX.US.md) - [AAPW.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/AAPW.US.md) - [APLY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/APLY.US.md) - [AAPY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/AAPY.US.md) - [MAGX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MAGX.US.md) ## Related News & Research - [Robert Bender & Associates trims Apple Inc stake](https://longbridge.com/en/news/294446719.md) - [Tim Cook: Apple 'Reluctantly Raised Prices' Due to '100-Year Flood on Memory Pricing'](https://longbridge.com/en/news/294424722.md) - [Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. 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