Apple reported first-quarter sales of $111 billion, a 17% increase from the same quarter a year earlier, with iPhone demand and growth in China leading the gains. Sales in China rose 28% year-on-year, outpacing every other region.

The iPhone was the strongest contributor to the quarter, while sales of Mac computers and wearable devices such as the Apple Watch remained relatively flat. The quarter also set a record for new Mac buyers, driven by the Macbook Neo, which is sold at a lower price than other Mac laptop computers.

"Recent demand for the iPhone has been extraordinary," Apple chief executive Tim Cook said. "The iPhone 17 was the most popular launch in Apple's history," he also told investors.

Cook addressed the performance of the company's newest laptop in the same remarks. "The new Macbook Neo is seeing off the charts demand," he said.

Cook outlined plans to integrate artificial intelligence more deeply into Apple's devices later in the year. "Apple Intelligence, the company's artificial intelligence product, will be updated later this year and included as part of its Siri voice-assistant," Cook said. He described the approach as embedding the technology into the user experience rather than offering it separately. "This is not AI as a standalone feature, but AI as an essential and intuitive part of our devices," he said.

On the question of how Apple is handling user data within those features, Cook said, "Our angle on AI is to be respectful of user privacy." Rather than build its own large-scale AI model, Apple has partnered with companies including OpenAI and Google to integrate their AI technology into Apple features.