Apple’s stockpiling of inventory, particularly computer memory, continued in its fiscal fourth quarter, according to earnings reported Monday. The company reported that its inventory increased significantly in the quarter, growing from $11.09 billion in Q3 to $14.54 billion in Q4, a jump of 31.1%. Year-over-year, inventory grew 154.3% from $5.72 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Apple’s forecast of a 45% to 46% gross margin in the December quarter was largely attributed to the impact of higher memory costs. The company reported a gross margin of 47.9% for the September quarter.

“What we’re seeing with memory pricing right now is unprecedented,” said Apple CEO John Ternus, speaking to analysts on the call. “As we said earlier in the September quarter, we did see higher memory costs as compared to the June quarter, which were partly offset by the benefit of carrying inventory and lower costs on certain non-memory components.”

He said that the company expected “even higher memory costs” in the December quarter, which would be partially offset by price increases implemented earlier this year on some devices, including Mac and iPad at the end of June and iPhones in September.

Ternus also said that beyond December, Apple expects memory costs “continuing to increase.”

“As we said before, we do believe we’ll see a decreasing benefit from the carry-in inventory on memory over time,” he noted, adding that the company was increasing its purchases of this key component.

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