Apple’s iPhone 17 was a big seller over the holiday period, with sales up nearly a quarter for the tech giant.

CEO Tim Cook, in an interview with FOX Business, called the results “amazing.”

Apple earned $143.8 billion in revenue first fiscal quarter and increased its profit by 19%. Cook said it was a record sales quarter for North America and China, where it has lost market share to local competitors in recent years.

THE NEW APPLE IPHONE 17 IS SOLD WORLDWIDE

A woman takes a selfie with iPhones at the Apple Store in the Sanlitun area of ​​Beijing on September 19, 2025. (Reuters/Maxim Shemetov)

Apple still pays a 10% tariff on products shipped from China, and Cook said the costs of the tariffs were largely in line with the company’s guided costs of $1.4 billion for the quarter.

As for AI spending, Cook said Apple is “open to acquisitions” and not wedded to a company of a certain size.

Apple on Thursday announced the purchase of Israeli AI audio company Q.ai, which Cook said: “We see a lot of benefits in the acquisition.” He added that “we continue to watch the market,” meaning there could be more announcements in the future.

At the AI arms race — with Microsoft and Meta announcing jumps in AI spending of 66 percent and up to 87 percent, respectively, Cook said Apple is “spending a little bit, too,” but declined to give a specific figure.

The iPhone 17 series is shown at the Apple Store in New York City on September 19, 2025. (Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)

There have been numerous reports recently that Cook may be stepping back from his leadership role and planning to hand the reins to someone else.

He said “I love my job and part of my job is to make sure there’s great succession within the company,” adding that he takes that part of his job seriously.

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Cook also confirmed that Apple’s AI assistant, Siri, will be powered by Google’s Gemini and will launch later this year. Asked if he’s choosing Google over OpenAI in the AI ​​race, Cook said he “sees it differently” and sees it more as a “collaboration” that will be the “foundation of our future models.”