Apple Inc. (AAPL)

Apple Inc. designs, manufactures and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and sells a variety of related services. The company designs and develops nearly the entire solution for its products, including the hardware, operating system, numerous software applications and related services. Its fiscal year is the 52- or 53-week period ending on the last Saturday of September, and it had approximately 166,000 full-time equivalent employees as of September 27, 2025.

Its hardware lines include iPhone (iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone Air, iPhone 17, iPhone 16 and iPhone 16e); Mac laptops and desktops (MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio and Mac Pro); and iPad (iPad Pro, iPad Air, iPad and iPad mini). Wearables, Home and Accessories covers Apple Watch, AirPods and Beats headphones, the Apple Vision Pro spatial computer, Apple TV 4K, HomePod and HomePod mini, and Apple-branded and third-party accessories. Services include advertising, AppleCare support and repair offerings, cloud services, and digital content platforms such as the App Store. Subscription services include Apple Arcade, Apple Fitness+, Apple Music, Apple News+ and Apple TV, and payment services include Apple Card and Apple Pay.

The company manages its business primarily on a geographic basis, with reportable segments of the Americas, Europe (which includes India, the Middle East and Africa), Greater China (China mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan), Japan, and Rest of Asia Pacific. Customers are primarily in the consumer, small and mid-sized business, education, enterprise and government markets. Apple sells through its retail and online stores and direct sales force, and through indirect channels such as third-party cellular network carriers and other resellers. In 2025, direct channels accounted for 40% of net sales and indirect channels for 60%. Sales have historically been higher in the first fiscal quarter because of holiday demand.

The markets in which Apple competes are highly competitive, with aggressive pricing, short product life cycles, frequent product introductions and rapid technological change. The company says it holds a minority market share in the global smartphone, personal computer, tablet and wearables markets. Most components are available from multiple sources, but certain components, including some custom ones, come from single or limited sources, and supply can be affected by shortages, commodity price swings and trade restrictions. Apple invests in research and development, licensing and acquisitions, and holds a broad portfolio of patents, designs, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets, while also licensing technology from third parties.