July 30 will be the last earnings call hosted by Tim Cook as Apple's CEO. Cook has been in charge of Apple since 2011. After this conference call, John Terners will take over as CEO. Bank of America issued a forward-looking research report on the eve of Apple's financial report on July 30 to maintain Apple's stock purchase rating. The target price was set at 380 US dollars. The bank expects Apple's second-quarter results to be higher than the Wall Street market's unanimous expectations. Currently, the overall price of memory chips in the global technology industry remains high, and it is also difficult for Apple to avoid cost pressure. Bank of America estimates that due to price increases for upstream components, Apple's gross margin for hardware products fell by about 190 basis points month-on-month in the June fiscal quarter. Entering the September fiscal quarter, the downward pressure on gross margin will further intensify, and it will fall by 280 basis points again. On the one hand, high component prices continue to erode profits; on the other hand, on the eve of the release of a new iPhone, Apple enters a low production and sales season before regular stocking, and the combination of two factors drags down profit levels. The Bank of America judged that this round of decline in gross margin was only a phased phenomenon: after the launch of the new iPhone series this fall, Apple's gross margin will recover sharply in the December fiscal quarter.

July 30 will be the last earnings call hosted by Tim Cook as Apple's CEO. Cook has been in charge of Apple since 2011. After this conference call, John Terners will take over as CEO. Bank of America issued a forward-looking research report on the eve of Apple's financial report on July 30 to maintain Apple's stock purchase rating. The target price was set at 380 US dollars. The bank expects Apple's second-quarter results to be higher than the Wall Street market's unanimous expectations. Currently, the overall price of memory chips in the global technology industry remains high, and it is also difficult for Apple to avoid cost pressure. Bank of America estimates that due to price increases for upstream components, Apple's gross margin for hardware products fell by about 190 basis points month-on-month in the June fiscal quarter. Entering the September fiscal quarter, the downward pressure on gross margin will further intensify, and it will fall by 280 basis points again. On the one hand, high component prices continue to erode profits; on the other hand, on the eve of the release of a new iPhone, Apple enters a low production and sales season before regular stocking, and the combination of two factors drags down profit levels. The Bank of America judged that this round of decline in gross margin was only a phased phenomenon: after the launch of the new iPhone series this fall, Apple's gross margin will recover sharply in the December fiscal quarter.