As Tim Cook did when he took over, new Apple CEO John Ternus took several minutes out of his first earnings call with analysts and shareholders to say why he feels great about the state of the company and its future.
As Apple reported better than expected earnings for the firm's fourth-quarter financial results, Ternus claimed that it is "the greatest company in the world." Unsurprisingly, he touted Apple's newest devices and their features, but he did also speak more broadly about the company.
It's a privilege to be with you for the first time as Apple CEO. I'm honoured to represent our teams and the work they do every day. This is an amazing time at Apple. We just completed one of the most prolific launch periods in our history. It's been a remarkable time for innovation across all of our categories. Apple is the greatest company in the world. We've assembled an extraordinary collection of talent. The best engineers, designers, developers, and experts in every corner of our business. From our supply chain to our stores.
Every day, we bring the right people together with the best ideas to build products and services that change lives. Guided by a foundational set of values and a belief that the best technology should make a better world. We do that by making products that are powerful and intuitive, and meet Apple's uncompromising standards for quality, performance, design, and durability.
That's the Apple experience customers love. And with our latest lineup, people have even more reasons than ever to upgrade or switch to an Apple product. At the same time, Apple Services amplify the experience of every device.
Ultimately, everything we do at Apple is for our users. The success of every innovation is best measured by its impact on people's lives. And that's what drives us to keep building great products and to get them into the hands of people all around the world.
Ternus's view of Apple and its future
John Ternus walked shareholders through highlights in Apple's financial quarter, but then he also talked more generally about the company. He said that he was proud of what Apple had achieved both for users and for American manufacturing.
People love Apple products and services for the countless ways they make life easier, more enjoyable, and just plain better. They also count on Apple to create technology responsibly, built the right way, not the easy way. That means building products with even more recycled content to take less from the earth, and with even better durability, so they last longer.
It means developing intelligent capabilities like sound recognition on Apple Watch to alert users who are deaf or hard of hearing. hard-of-hearing to what's happening around them. It means designing privacy protections like on-device processing so personal data stays on a user's device, and it means introducing new child safety features to make it easier for parents to manage when and how their kids can use their devices.
We're also pleased to be doing more and more manufacturing in the United States. Through our American manufacturing program, we're deepening partnerships with suppliers across the country, including Peeryman, a titanium producer now supplying iPhone Duo, and Qnity Electronics, which is producing the camera technology behind iPhone 18 Pro's new variable aperture system.
Nearly 100 components in our newest iPhones come from Paramin. American companies in more than a dozen states. All told, Apple supports more than 450,000 American jobs with thousands of suppliers and partners across all 50 states. It's all part of our $600 billion four-year commitment to U.S. innovation and advanced manufacturing.
I am proud of what we've accomplished this quarter, and I'm excited for what's ahead. We have everything we need to be extraordinarily successful, and with this team, this vision, this mission, and these values, I have no doubt that we will.
When Apple uses earnings calls to say more
Apple's earning calls are one hour per quarter, in which the company recites the same figures it announces in its financial filings. The CEO and CFO also then take questions, though a great many of those questions are about future products or plans, and so they are not answered.
There have been times, though, when the basic format of the call has been altered. Before Ternus's first call, for instance, there was Tim Cook's last one. In that, Cook talked about the transition of CEO, and thanked shareholders for their support.
Cook also broke the format back in October 2011. As he said at the time, that was the first Apple earnings call following the death of co-founder Steve Jobs.
"The world has lost a visionary, a creative genius, and an amazing human being," Cook said. "His spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple."
