Deferred Revenue
Apple Deferred Revenue increased by 4.0% to $9.41B in Q4 2025 compared to the prior quarter. Year-over-year, this metric grew by 11.3%, from $8.46B to $9.41B. Over 5 years (FY 2020 to FY 2025), Deferred Revenue shows an upward trend with a 6.4% CAGR. This is a positive signal — higher values indicate stronger performance for this metric.
Analysis
How to read this metric
An increase suggests strong sales of subscription-based services or bundled offerings, providing a predictable pipeline for future revenue recognition.
Detailed definition
Represents cash payments received from customers in advance of the company fulfilling its performance obligations, speci...
Peer comparison
High-growth software and services companies typically maintain larger deferred revenue balances relative to pure hardware manufacturers.
deferred_revenue_currentHistorical Data
| Q2 '21 | Q3 '21 | Q4 '21 | Q1 '22 | Q2 '22 | Q3 '22 | Q4 '22 | Q1 '23 | Q2 '23 | Q3 '23 | Q4 '23 | Q1 '24 | Q2 '24 | Q3 '24 | Q4 '24 | Q1 '25 | Q2 '25 | Q3 '25 | Q4 '25 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $7.68B | $7.61B | $7.88B | $7.92B | $7.73B | $7.91B | $7.99B | $8.13B | $8.16B | $8.06B | $8.26B | $8.01B | $8.05B | $8.25B | $8.46B | $8.98B | $8.98B | $9.06B | $9.41B |
| QoQ Change | — | -0.9% | +3.5% | +0.6% | -2.4% | +2.4% | +1.0% | +1.7% | +0.3% | -1.2% | +2.5% | -3.0% | +0.5% | +2.4% | +2.6% | +6.1% | +0.0% | +0.8% | +4.0% |
| YoY Change | — | — | — | — | +0.6% | +3.9% | +1.5% | +2.7% | +5.6% | +1.9% | +3.4% | -1.5% | -1.3% | +2.3% | +2.4% | +12.0% | +11.5% | +9.8% | +11.3% |
Deferred Revenue at Other Companies
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is Apple's deferred revenue?
- Apple (AAPL) reported deferred revenue of $9.41B in Q4 2025.
- How has Apple's deferred revenue changed year-over-year?
- Apple's deferred revenue increased by 11.3% year-over-year, from $8.46B to $9.41B.
- What is the long-term trend for Apple's deferred revenue?
- Over 5 years (2020 to 2025), Apple's deferred revenue has grown at a 6.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), from $6.64B to $9.06B.
- What does deferred revenue mean?
- Money collected from customers for products or services that haven't been delivered yet but will be within a year.