Apple's purchase obligations reached $89.7 billion. Its capex fell to $9.0 billion. Apple's fiscal 2026, read back.

Every figure below was read from Apple's own filings on sec.gov and is cited with its accession: the fourth-quarter results furnished on Form 8-K, the fiscal 2026 annual report on Form 10-K, the June-quarter 10-Q they are read against, and the 8-K for the notes sold on 9 November. Apple files no outlook, so there is no company guide to read the quarter against. We show no analyst estimates, no consensus and no share prices, because none of them is filed, and nothing from the earnings call, which is not a filing either. Sums, ratios and differences Apple does not print are our arithmetic on filed values and are marked (Ours.) Research, not investment advice.

Our plan had an Apple pre-print for 2 November, the day Apple reported, built on its June-quarter 10-Q. That post did not run. This one does the job the pair was meant to do: it takes the lines the June 10-Q set (0000320193-26-000020) and reads them against the fourth-quarter release of 2 November (8-K 0000320193-26-000024) and the fiscal 2026 10-K filed the next morning (0000320193-26-000026). Where the 10-K and the release both give a figure, we cite the 10-K; for every line below the two agree.

This is not an AI-capex story, and the filings show why. We read the hyperscalers' capex lines last month. Apple's fell. The numbers that grew at Apple are the ones that sit between it and its suppliers.

How to read this post

Each line gives the June figure first, then September. Apple's fiscal year ended on 26 September 2026, so the fourth quarter and the full year end on the same date. Short on time: read lines 2 and 4.

1. The quarter and the year

June (0000320193-26-000020): third-quarter net sales of $109,417 million, up 16%, and nine-month sales of $364,357 million.

September (0000320193-26-000024): fourth-quarter net sales of $114,477 million, against $102,466 million a year earlier (Ours: up 11.7%; the release rounds it to "up 12 percent"). Diluted EPS was $2.10, against $1.85. The 10-K (0000320193-26-000026) puts fiscal 2026 net sales at $478,834 million, up 15%, with iPhone at $254,098 million (up 21%) and Services at $123,301 million (up 13%). The 10-K calls iPad and Wearables, Home and Accessories "relatively flat" for the year.

Source: 8-K 0000320193-26-000024, Exhibit 99.1; the full-year column matches the 10-K.

2. Products gross margin: 40.1% in June, 37.2% in September

June (0000320193-26-000020): products gross margin of 40.1% in the third quarter, services 75.6%, total 50.1%.

September: the release gives a total of 47.9% for the fourth quarter, "including a favorable impact of approximately 1 percentage point from tariff refunds" (0000320193-26-000024). It does not split the quarter by products and services; the statement of operations lets us do it. (Ours: products $82,904 million of sales less $52,064 million of cost is $30,840 million, or 37.2%; services $31,573 million less $7,593 million is $23,980 million, or 76.0%.)

For the full year the 10-K (0000320193-26-000026) gives products at 39.3% against 36.8%, services at 76.2% against 75.4%, and the total at 48.8% against 46.9%. Its reason for products is the same sentence shape as June's: "product mix and tariff refunds, partially offset by higher costs, including memory." And it keeps the general line that "gross margins will be subject to volatility and downward pressure."

3. The memory sentence got narrower

June (0000320193-26-000020): Apple named "advanced semiconductors, storage (NAND) and memory (DRAM)" and wrote: "The Company expects these trends to intensify, which may materially negatively impact the Company's revenue, costs, gross margin, results of operations and financial condition."

September, the 10-K (0000320193-26-000026): "The Company is experiencing supply constraints and rising costs driven by industry-wide supply-demand imbalances for key components, including advanced semiconductors, memory and storage. The Company expects these trends to intensify for memory and storage components."

The June expectation covered the component trends in general. The 10-K narrows it to two. Both filings add that price increases "may not effectively mitigate" the pressure and "may also reduce demand". We have read the supply side of this in September's memory post; the 10-K is the buyer's version.

4. $89.7 billion of manufacturing purchase obligations

June (0000320193-26-000020): "manufacturing purchase obligations of $57.0 billion, with $56.2 billion payable within 12 months."

September (0000320193-26-000026): "manufacturing purchase obligations of $89.7 billion, with $82.7 billion payable within 12 months." (Ours: up $32.7 billion in one quarter, or 57.4%; the part due within a year rose $26.5 billion.) Other purchase obligations went the other way, $29.3 billion to $27.3 billion.

The balance sheet moved with it. Inventories were $14,541 million at 26 September, against $11,092 million in June and $5,718 million a year earlier. Components were $10,447 million of that, against $7,645 million in June and $2,124 million a year earlier; finished goods were $4,094 million (0000320193-26-000026). (Ours: components were 4.9 times their level of a year earlier.) Vendor non-trade receivables, which arise when Apple sells components to the manufacturers that assemble its products, were $39,896 million against $27,509 million in June. In the cash-flow statement, inventories used $8,905 million in the year, against a $1,400 million release in fiscal 2025.

Apple does not say in these lines which components it committed to. The memory sentence in line 3 is the closest the 10-K comes.

5. Capex fell; R&D did not

June (0000320193-26-000020): payments for property, plant and equipment of $6,799 million in nine months, against $9,473 million a year earlier.

September (0000320193-26-000026): $9,041 million for fiscal 2026, against $12,715 million in fiscal 2025. (Ours: down 28.9%; the fourth quarter was $2,242 million; capex was 6.2% of the year's $145,097 million of operating cash flow.) Net property, plant and equipment was $52,084 million, against $49,834 million.

Research and development rose 32% to $45,765 million, 10% of net sales. The 10-K's reason: "higher infrastructure-related costs, including investments in artificial intelligence, and headcount-related expenses." Licensed intangible assets, net, went from $9,179 million to $20,943 million, and expected amortization is $6,617 million in fiscal 2027.

The 10-K adds a sentence the June 10-Q did not have: "Investment in data center capacity involves significant expenditures and long-term commitments, including for components and equipment, which increase the Company's capital expenditures, liabilities and obligations." Both filings say Apple relies "on third-party cloud service providers" for compute and storage, in addition to its own data centers; the June 10-Q said that too. So far the capex line has not shown the build that sentence describes.

6. Greater China

June (0000320193-26-000020): Greater China net sales of $18,816 million in the third quarter, up 22%, and $64,839 million in nine months, up 30%.

September: $17,539 million in the fourth quarter, against $14,493 million a year earlier (0000320193-26-000024) (Ours: up 21.0%), and $82,378 million for the year, up 28%, after a 4% decline in fiscal 2025 (0000320193-26-000026). The 10-K attributes it "primarily" to "higher net sales of iPhone and Mac", with the renminbi's strength "a favorable year-over-year impact". Greater China was 17.2% of fiscal 2026 net sales (Ours: $82,378 million of $478,834 million).

7. Tariff refunds

The 10-K (0000320193-26-000026) states the source: "on February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court issued a ruling striking down certain tariffs previously imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977." Apple "has applied for a refund of tariffs paid" and "has recognized any refunds received as a reduction of products cost of sales." The release puts the fourth-quarter effect at about 1 percentage point of gross margin and "$0.05" of diluted EPS (0000320193-26-000024). Neither filing gives a dollar total for the refunds.

8. Buybacks against debt

June (0000320193-26-000020): 215 million shares repurchased for $61.8 billion in nine months; $38.0 billion left under the May 2025 programme, plus the new $100 billion programme of April 2026.

September (0000320193-26-000026): 297 million shares for $85.8 billion in fiscal 2026 (Ours: about 82 million shares and $24.0 billion in the fourth quarter). The May 2026 accelerated repurchases ended in August with 33 million shares delivered in total. Remaining availability under the May 2025 programme was $14.0 billion. Dividends and dividend equivalents were $15.7 billion; the quarterly dividend is $0.27. Shares outstanding were 14,532,259 thousand against 14,773,260 thousand a year earlier (Ours: down 1.6%).

The debt side ran the other way in the fiscal year. The cash-flow statement shows no proceeds from term debt in fiscal 2026, against $4,481 million in fiscal 2025, and $12,396 million of repayments. The notes outstanding were "$78.7 billion" of principal, "$10.0 billion payable within 12 months", and commercial paper was $2.0 billion, against $8.0 billion a year earlier. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities "totaled $136.9 billion".

Then, on 9 November, Apple sold seven series of notes: floating-rate notes of $500 million due 2028 and $750 million due 2029, and fixed-rate notes of $1,000 million each due 2028 (4.650%), 2029 (4.750%) and 2031 (4.900%), $1,250 million due 2033 (5.100%) and $2,000 million due 2036 (5.350%) (8-K 0001140361-26-042798). (Ours: $7.5 billion in total.) The prospectus supplement (0001140361-26-042505) estimates net proceeds of "approximately $7.47 billion" for "general corporate purposes, including repurchases of our common stock and payment of dividends".

What the 10-K adds that the release did not

• The purchase-obligation total and the inventory split (line 4).
• The narrower memory sentence and the data-center sentence (lines 3 and 5).
• The tariff-refund mechanics (line 7).
• An effective tax rate of 17.0%, against 15.6% in fiscal 2025.

What to hold the next filing to

The first-quarter 10-Q of fiscal 2027 covers the holiday quarter. Five lines to read it against:

1. Manufacturing purchase obligations against $89.7 billion, and inventories against $14,541 million.
2. Products gross margin against 37.2% (Ours) in the fourth quarter, and whether tariff refunds are still named.
3. Whether the memory sentence stays at "memory and storage components" or widens again.
4. Capex against the $2,242 million (Ours) fourth-quarter run, next to the data-center sentence.
5. Term debt with the $7.5 billion of November notes on the balance sheet, against repurchases.

Run it yourself

Open Apple's 10-K, search for "manufacturing purchase obligations", and write down $89.7 billion next to June's $57.0 billion. Then search for "intensify" and put the two sentences side by side. That is lines 3 and 4, one quarter on.

Our Thesis Monitor reads each new filing against what you wrote and tells you which of those lines moved. If you work inside an agent, the same filings are on the EvidInvest MCP server. It is free to start, credit packs from $10, and there is no subscription.

Apple spent less on property and equipment this year than last. In its last quarter it committed $32.7 billion more to the companies that build its products.

Sources. Apple Inc. Form 8-K of 2 November 2026, Exhibit 99.1 (Q4 FY2026 release): accession 0000320193-26-000024 (sec.gov). Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 26 September 2026: 0000320193-26-000026 (sec.gov). June lines: Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 27 June 2026: 0000320193-26-000020 (sec.gov). Notes: Form 8-K of 9 November 2026, Item 8.01: 0001140361-26-042798; prospectus supplement on Form 424B2 of 6 November 2026: 0001140361-26-042505. EDGAR was checked at 04:30 UTC on 12 November 2026. No analyst estimate, consensus figure, share price, price target or call remark appears on this page. Sums, ratios and differences are arithmetic on those filed values, labelled as ours where they appear. Research, not investment advice.