### Apple Reports Better Than Expected Q4 Revenue Despite EU Tax Hit

Apple (AAPL) revealed its fourth quarter earnings on Thursday, offering a fresh perspective on the performance of its Apple Intelligence platform and its impact on iPhone sales.

For Q4, Apple reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.97 on revenue totaling $94.9 billion. The company attributed part of its financial results to a one-time charge stemming from a European General Court decision, mandating Apple to pay 13 billion euros in back taxes to Ireland. This announcement led to a 2% drop in Apple's share price after the report was released. Absent this charge, Apple's EPS would have been $1.64, surpassing analysts' predictions of $1.59 per share and a revenue target of $94.3 billion.

A year ago during the same period, Apple recorded an EPS of $1.46 on revenue of $89.4 billion.

Apple's iPhone sales exceeded expectations, reaching $46.2 billion, compared to the anticipated $45 billion. However, the company's Services division generated $24.9 billion in revenue, which was slightly below the expected $25.2 billion. In other product categories, iPad revenue matched closely with predictions at $6.9 billion, while the Wearables category posted $9 billion in revenue versus an anticipated $9.1 billion.

The region of Greater China saw revenues of $15 billion, falling short of the $15.8 billion expected by analysts.

Currently, the Apple Intelligence platform is available only in US English, but the company plans to add localized English support in December and additional languages by April. The platform is compatible exclusively with the latest iPhone models, specifically the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and the upcoming iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro lines. Users of older devices will need to upgrade to access the new platform, a move Apple hopes will stimulate a new sales cycle.

The initial rollout of Apple Intelligence features has been modest, with notification summaries being a notable highlight. However, future updates are set to introduce ChatGPT integration and a feature called Visual Intelligence, which could potentially draw more interest in Apple's latest devices.