Apple just had the best March quarter ever, says outgoing CEO Tim Cook

Apple posted strong results for its quarterly earnings on Thursday, but investors’ attention is also focused on the upcoming CEO change and the tech firm’s artificial intelligence strategy.Apple CEO Tim Cook announced earlier this month he will be stepping down from the role, with Apple’s head of hardware engineering, John Ternus, assuming the role later this year.The January-March results announced Thursday reflect the continued momentum of i Phone sales. Cook said in a statement that it was the company’s best March quarter ever, with “double-digit growth across every geographic segment.”The company earned $29.58 billion, or $2.01 per share, in the January-March period, up about 22% from the same period a year earlier.Revenue rose about 17% to $111.18 billion from $95.36 billion a year earlier. iPhone sales made up the bulk of revenue, bringing in $56.99 billion.The Cupertino, California company beat analyst expectations this quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research forecast earnings of $1.95 per share on revenue of $109.46 billion.In the previous quarter that ended in December, the company said it reached record-high iPhone sales, even though it still hasn’t delivered on its long-promised revamp of Siri assistance with AI. iPhone achieved a March quarter revenue record, fueled by strong demand for the iPhone 17 lineup.This March, Apple introduced the new iPhone 17e and the MacBook Neo, an entry-level laptop, the company’s most aggressive attempts at moving into the affordable market.High demand has caused supply constraints, Cook said on a conference call with analysts Thursday. Those constraints have been driven by the availability of the advanced technology used to form what is essentially a device’s brain. In the current quarter that runs through June, supply constraints will affect several Mac models, in part because the “customer response to Mac Neo has just been off the charts” with highe