There Is Incredible News for Apple Investors. Will It Be Enough to Send the Stock Higher?

Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) share price has been somewhat volatile but essentially flat (down 0.6%) so far in 2026. The tech giant’s tepid returns can be attributed to the broader negativity about tech stocks amid the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

However, there was some good news in store for shareholders from Counterpoint Research, a market research firm. Apple emerged as the top player in the global smartphone market in the first quarter of 2026. But what’s impressive is that it’s the only one among the top five smartphone manufacturers to record growth during the quarter.

Will AI create the world’s first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an “Indispensable Monopoly” providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue »

Let’s see why Apple’s calendar Q1 sales performance is a big deal.

Counterpoint notes that overall smartphone sales dropped by 6% year over year in Q1. Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo all had shipments decline from the year-ago period. Apple, however, managed to increase its shipments by 5%. The Magnificent Seven company ended calendar Q1 with a 21% market share, becoming the top smartphone vendor during the quarter.

Counterpoint attributes this strong showing to the robust demand for iPhones in India, China, and Japan. The firm also says that Apple’s aggressive trade-in programs are driving resilient sales growth even in an unfavorable macroeconomic environment.

Clearly, the Apple brand is resonating with customers, even though critics point out that it has fallen behind rivals in the generative-AI smartphone race. However, the company is reportedly working to integrate more AI features into its devices with help from Alphabet‘s Google. As reported by technology news site The Information, Apple could use Google’s Gemini AI model to create smaller AI models that will run locally on its own devices.

Such features could make Apple’s iPhones and other devices more attractive to users, which could keep iPhone sales strong. Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities says that around 315 million iPhones were at least four years old when the iPhone 17 series was rolled out last year. The huge number of iPhones in an upgrade window should drive strong replacement demand and help Apple outperform the broader smartphone market.

It’s worth noting that the global smartphone market has been hamstrung by the high prices of memory chips, but Apple has been quick to secure supply in a bid to maintain market share.

This strategy should ideally pay off in the long run, as Apple has a solid opportunity to monetize its AI offerings. That could mitigate any margin-related sacrifices it makes to maintain its smartphone dominance by securing costly components.

Apple’s earnings are expected to increase by a healthy 14% in the current fiscal year to $8.51 per share, according to consensus estimates. Analysts believe this strong double-digit growth will be a tailwind for the stock, as evidenced by its 12-month median price target of $307.50, which suggests a 15% jump from current levels.

Apple seems well-positioned to gain market share, which should boost investor confidence in this tech stock and help it achieve the double-digit gains analysts expect in the coming year.

Before you buy stock in Apple, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Apple wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $524,786!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,236,406!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 994% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 199% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of April 18, 2026.

Harsh Chauhan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet and Apple and is short shares of Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

There Is Incredible News for Apple Investors. Will It Be Enough to Send the Stock Higher? was originally published by The Motley Fool