Citi: Apple's quarterly results focus on services business growth, maintains "Buy" rating.

Citi issued a report stating that Apple will announce its September quarter results after market close on November 2. The bank believes investors will focus on the growth momentum of the services business, while also watching the continued weakness in App Store revenue, additional concerns over the impact of agentic AI, pressure on gross margins from rising memory costs, and the seasonal sales impact on iPhone due to the lack of a base model at this autumn's launch event. The bank's iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max shipment tracking shows a slightly less pronounced upgrade cycle, though this is not surprising, as some demand may be deferred to the iPhone Duo launch. The bank broadly maintains its 2026/2027 iPhone shipment growth forecasts unchanged at 1.4%/6.7%, respectively. The bank expects September quarter revenue and earnings per share to be broadly in line with market expectations, while December quarter revenue and earnings per share will fall short of expectations due to this year's different launch cadence. The bank maintains its "Buy" rating.