Apple Q4 2026: iPhone Duo sold out, Siri AI limits, memory costs

Apple can't keep up with demand for the iPhone Duo, and there's no word on when supply and demand will balance. CEO John Ternus said so to Reuters after the earnings release, on his first call in the new role.

Ternus also acknowledged display issues on the device. He said a "very small percentage" of units have been returned. That's the concrete picture: strong demand, a display problem, and a small share of returns.

Ternus repeated Apple's plan to put usage limits on server-side AI features, like Siri AI and photo editing. If you need more capacity, you'll be able to buy expanded access.

What's still open: there's no pricing and no detail on how much each iCloud+ plan includes. CFO Kevan Parekh said the split between on-device and Private Cloud Compute work is still early. On-device is efficient with no real costs, he said, while the server side carries inference costs.

Ternus said Apple has room to grow Siri's capabilities over time. On AI agents, he said they're promising tools, but Apple wants users to know what they're giving access to, with security and privacy protected.

His argument for Apple devices as a place to use AI rests on data. Contacts, communications, health and financial data sit on your iPhone, and Siri can reach them in a way he described as secure and private. Even Apple doesn't have access, he said, and he called that a core differentiator.

With the MacBook Pro adding a touch display, an analyst asked whether a single unified operating system is coming. Ternus said Apple aims to make the best version of each product and adds cross-device features like Handoff, but has no plans for major changes.

He pointed to the recent MacBook Pro update as a big step and said there are no fundamentally different changes planned right now. He added that Apple wouldn't discuss them anyway.

Greater China revenue rose 21 percent in the quarter, a quarterly record, driven mainly by the iPhone and the Mac. Apple also counts more than 2.5 billion active devices.

On memory, Ternus called the situation "unprecedented" and said Apple expects even higher memory costs in the December quarter. Price increases in June and September offset some of the pressure, along with lower costs on some non-memory components and carry-in inventory.