约翰·特努斯（John Ternus）作为苹果首席执行官的首份财报表现尚可，直到该公司需要发布毛利率预测——这是投资者密切关注的关键指标之一。
John Ternus' first earnings report as Apple CEO was going fine until it was time to issue a forecast for the company's gross margin, one of the key metrics followed by investors.
苹果周一公布的盈利和营收均好于预期，包括核心的iPhone业务，甚至预计本季度销售额将超出预估。但在特努斯开放分析师提问环节前，首席财务官凯万·帕雷赫（Kevan Parekh）带来了第一个真正的坏消息。
Apple reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue on Monday, including in the company's core iPhone unit, and even projected sales in the current period that topped estimates. But just before Ternus opened the earnings call up to analysts' questions, CFO Kevan Parekh came forward with the first real piece of bad news.
据伦敦证券交易所集团（LSEG）数据，帕雷赫表示，对于涵盖假日季的12月季度，苹果毛利率将在45%至46%之间，低于分析师平均预估的46.3%。
Parekh said that for the December quarter, which goes through the holiday season, Apple's gross margin will be between 45% and 46%, trailing the 46.3% average analyst estimate, according to LSEG.
帕雷赫说：“这主要包括更高的内存成本影响，以及与Siri人工智能功能推出相关的一些成本。”
"This includes primarily the impact of higher memory costs, as well as some costs related to the ramp of Siri AI," Parekh said.
在盘后交易中，苹果股价下跌约3%，此前在周一常规交易时段已下跌近2%。
Apple shares slid about 3% in extended trading, following a drop of almost 2% during regular market hours on Monday.
这属于苹果持续面临的趋势之一，该公司正在吸收全球内存短缺导致的成本飙升。如果财年第一季度毛利率下滑，将是苹果连续第三个季度下降，此前6月季度毛利率为50.1%，9月季度为47.9%（受关税退税提振1个百分点）。
It's part of an ongoing trend for Apple, which is absorbing some of the soaring costs from the global memory shortage. A margin drop in the fiscal first quarter would be a third straight decline for Apple, following a gross margin of 50.1% in the June period and 47.9% in the September quarter, boosted by 1 percentage point of tariff refunds.
按预测区间的中点计算，这将是苹果自2023财年第四季度以来的最低毛利率。
At the midpoint of the forecasted range, it would be Apple's lowest gross margin since the fiscal fourth quarter of 2023.
“我们目前看到的内存定价情况是前所未有的，”特努斯在电话会议上表示，并补充说公司支付的价格比今年早些时候更高。“展望12月季度之后，我们看到内存采购价格将继续上涨。”特努斯于9月1日从蒂姆·库克手中接过掌舵权，正在应对一个其前任在最后几个月里一直在解决的问题。库克6月告诉《华尔街日报》，内存形势是一场“百年一遇的洪水”。随后，苹果全面上调了Mac、iPad和配件的价格。
"What we're seeing with memory pricing right now is unprecedented," Ternus said on the call, adding that the company is paying more than it did earlier this year. "Looking beyond the December quarter, we see the pricing for memory purchases continuing to increase." Ternus, who took the reins from Tim Cook on Sept. 1, is grappling with a problem that his predecessor spent his final months addressing. Cook told The Wall Street Journal in June that the memory situation was a "hundred-year flood." Apple followed by raising prices across the board on Macs, iPads, and accessories.
9月，苹果将iPhone价格上调了100美元，特努斯称公司是“不情愿地”这样做的。“供应链灵活性降低”各地的电脑和智能手机制造商都在遭受损失。周五，英特尔股价经历了自1970年代以来最糟糕的一天，原因是与PC市场疲软相关的疲弱预期。这一切都归因于对人工智能的旺盛需求。
In September, Apple increased the prices of its iPhones by $100, which Ternus said the company did "reluctantly." 'Less flexibility in the supply chain' Computer and smartphone makers everywhere are suffering. On Friday, Intel had its worst day on the market since the 1970s due to a weak forecast tied to the softening PC market. It's all because of insatiable artificial intelligence demand.
英伟达等AI服务器巨头和超大规模数据中心运营商正在买下能找到的所有内存，并且愿意为之支付溢价，导致留给制造智能手机和平板电脑的公司的供应所剩无几。
AI server giants like Nvidia and hyperscalers are buying up all the RAM they can find, and they're willing to pay a premium for it, leaving little supply for companies that make smartphones and tablets.
尽管规模庞大且拥有全球影响力，苹果表示预计在假日季度iPhone和Mac将面临供应限制，主要由内存短缺驱动。
Despite its size and global clout, Apple said it expects supply constraints on iPhones and Macs in the holiday quarter, primarily driven by memory.
在电话会议上，特努斯让几位核心副手回答与零部件相关的问题。首席运营官萨比赫·汗成为自2010年库克（当时乔布斯担任CEO）以来，首位出现在财报电话会议上的苹果COO。
On the call, Ternus had some top lieutenants field component-related questions. Sabih Khan, chief operating officer, became the first Apple COO to appear on an earnings call since Cook in 2010, when Steve Jobs was CEO.
“正如我们之前所说，我们看到的供应链灵活性比正常情况要低，”汗在电话会上告诉分析师。
"As we have said before, we're seeing less flexibility in the supply chain than normal," Khan told analysts on the call.
作为回应，苹果大幅增加了采购承诺以保障供应，汗表示。这些承诺从6月季度到9月期间增加了330亿美元，汗说，但他拒绝回答苹果是否已与内存制造商签署了“长期协议”的问题。“我们一直在努力改善供应，”库克说。
In response, Apple has drastically increased its purchase obligations to secure supply, Khan said. Those obligations rose by $33 billion from the June quarter to the September period, Khan said, though he declined to answer questions about whether Apple had signed "long-term agreements" with memory makers. "We're always working hard to improve supply," Khan said.
即使最近毛利率有所下滑，苹果的毛利率仍远高于库克时代早期的水平，当时该数字通常会在38%至39%之间。随着苹果利润丰厚的服务业务增长，其毛利率不断扩大，2021年达到40%，并从那里继续增长。
Even with the recent margin slide, Apple's gross margins are still well above where they sat earlier in the Cook era, when the number wouldpredictably come in between 38% and 39%. As Apple's profitable services business grew, its gross margin expanded, hitting 40% in 2021 and growing from there.
分析师认为，在当前的市场动荡中，苹果可能存在一线转机。因为苹果更有能力承担一部分增加的成本，一些专家预测，该公司将从没有这种缓冲的Windows PC和安卓手机制造商手中夺取市场份额。援引第三方研究机构的数据，特努斯表示，份额增长已经在发生。
Analysts see a potential silver lining for Apple in the current market turmoil. Because Apple is more capable of eating a portion of the increased costs, some experts predict the company will take market share from makers of Windows PC and Android phones that don't have such a cushion. Citing data from a third-party researcher, Ternus said gains are already happening.
“根据IDC的数据，我们在本季度和整个财年全球范围内都获得了份额增长，”特努斯说。“而且我们在一个财年中销售的Mac数量从未像这次这样多，这真切地证明了这些令人难以置信的产品。”
"According to IDC, we gained share globally for the quarter and for the full fiscal year," Ternus said. "And we have never sold more Macs in a fiscal year than we did this time, which is a truly remarkable testament to these incredible products."
