Apple vs Broadcom: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
Apple reported $416.2B of revenue in FY2025 and $112B of net income. Broadcom reported $63.9B of revenue in FY2025 and $23.1B of net income.
Latest financial snapshot
Financial summary
Apple
Apple's fiscal 2025 results describe a hardware business with software margins. Net sales rose 6 percent to $416.2 billion, net income reached $112.0 billion, and total gross margin was 46.9 percent, split between 36.8 percent on Products and 75.4 percent on Services. Services revenue of $109.2 billion, up 14 percent, is the reason the blended margin keeps rising. Cash generation is the other defining feature: operations produced $111.5 billion in fiscal 2025, and Apple returned $89.3 billion through share repurchases and $15.4 billion in dividends, after announcing a new repurchase authorization of up to $100 billion and raising the quarterly dividend to $0.26 per share in May 2025. Research and development came to $34.6 billion, 8 percent of net sales, and cash plus marketable securities stood at $132.4 billion at year end.
Broadcom
Fiscal 2025 revenue rose 24% to $63.9 billion and net income reached $23.1 billion, up from $5.9 billion in fiscal 2024, when a large income tax charge weighed on results. Operating income was $25.5 billion and free cash flow $26.9 billion, of which $11.1 billion went to dividends and $6.4 billion to buybacks. Fiscal 2026 then accelerated: quarterly revenue went from $19.3 billion in Q1 to $22.2 billion in Q2 and $29.6 billion in Q3, with Q4 guided at about $34.8 billion. Long-term debt taken on for VMware fell to $57.2 billion at 2 August 2026 from $62.0 billion at the end of fiscal 2025, and the quarterly dividend is $0.65 a share after a 10% increase.
Revenue and profit by year
Apple
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $416.2B | $112B | 26.9% | +6.4% | Source |
| FY2024 | $391B | $93.7B | 24.0% | +2.0% | Source |
| FY2023 | $383.3B | $97B | 25.3% | -2.8% | Source |
| FY2022 | $394.3B | $99.8B | 25.3% | +7.8% | Source |
| FY2021 | $365.8B | $94.7B | 25.9% | +33.3% | Source |
| FY2020 | $274.5B | $57.4B | 20.9% | +5.5% | Source |
| FY2019 | $260.2B | $55.3B | 21.2% | -2.0% | Source |
| FY2018 | $265.6B | $59.5B | 22.4% | +15.9% | Source |
| FY2017 | $229.2B | $48.4B | 21.1% | +6.3% | Source |
| FY2016 | $215.6B | $45.7B | 21.2% | — | Source |
Broadcom
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $63.9B | $23.1B | 36.2% | +23.9% | Source |
| FY2024 | $51.6B | $5.9B | 11.4% | +44.0% | Source |
| FY2023 | $35.8B | $14.1B | 39.3% | +7.9% | Source |
| FY2022 | $33.2B | $11.5B | 34.6% | +21.0% | Source |
| FY2021 | $27.4B | $6.7B | 24.5% | +14.9% | Source |
| FY2020 | $23.9B | $3B | 12.4% | +5.7% | Source |
| FY2019 | $22.6B | $2.7B | 12.1% | +8.4% | Source |
| FY2018 | $20.8B | $12.3B | 58.8% | +18.2% | Source |
| FY2017 | $17.6B | $1.7B | 9.6% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
Apple
- iPhone~50%
iPhone net sales were $209.6B in FY2025, up 4%, and the phone is the entry point into Services, accessories, AppleCare, iCloud and App Store spending.
- Services~26%
Services covers the App Store, advertising, cloud, AppleCare, payments, media subscriptions and licensing. FY2025 net sales were $109.2B, up 14%, at a 75.4% gross margin against 36.8% for Products.
- Mac and iPad~15%
Mac net sales were $33.7B and iPad $28.0B in FY2025, driven by Apple silicon refreshes, education, creative work and enterprise adoption.
- Wearables, Home and Accessories~9%
Apple Watch, AirPods, Vision Pro, home devices and accessories were $35.7B in FY2025, down 4%, and they deepen iPhone attachment.
Broadcom
- Semiconductor Solutions
~58% (FY2025); 70% in Q3 FY2026
Custom AI accelerators, Ethernet switch chips, network adapters, optics, broadband, storage connectivity, wireless and RF filters generated $36.9B in fiscal 2025 and $20.8B in Q3 fiscal 2026 alone, up 127% year over year.
- Infrastructure Software
~42% (FY2025); 30% in Q3 FY2026
VMware Cloud Foundation plus CA mainframe and Symantec security software generated $27.0B in fiscal 2025 and $8.8B in Q3 fiscal 2026, up 29%.
- AI Semiconductor Revenue
56% of revenue in Q3 FY2026
AI semiconductor revenue, a subset of Semiconductor Solutions, was about $20B in fiscal 2025 and $16.7B in Q3 fiscal 2026, with $21.7B guided for Q4.
Business model and strategy
Apple
How it makes money
Apple sells hardware at premium prices and keeps the software, distribution and payment layers on top of it. The iPhone is the entry point, at $209.6 billion of fiscal 2025 net sales, and it pulls customers into iOS, iCloud storage plans, App Store purchases, AppleCare and accessories.
Growth strategy
Growth now comes from monetizing an installed base of more than 2.5 billion devices rather than from unit growth alone. Services rose 14 percent to $109.2 billion in fiscal 2025 on the App Store, advertising, iCloud, AppleCare, payments and subscription media, and Apple packages them through the Apple One bundle.
Competitive advantage
Apple's advantage comes from owning the parts other phone makers buy. It designs its own silicon, the A20 Pro in iPhone 18 Pro and the M5 in Mac and iPad Pro, plus the operating systems, the app store, the payment layer and the retail channel, so hardware, software and services are tuned to each other.
Broadcom
How it makes money
Broadcom reports two segments. Semiconductor Solutions sold $36.9 billion of chips in fiscal 2025: custom AI accelerators (XPUs) designed with hyperscale customers, Tomahawk and Jericho Ethernet switch chips, network adapters, optical components, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips, RF filters for smartphones, broadband gateway chips and storage connectivity.
Growth strategy
Broadcom's growth plan has two engines. In chips, it co-designs custom accelerators with a short list of customers, including Google's TPU, Meta's MTIA, OpenAI and Anthropic, and sells the Ethernet switches, network adapters and optics that connect them. In software, it is moving VMware's installed base onto VMware Cloud Foundation subscriptions;
Competitive advantage
Broadcom's edge is engineering depth in a few hard problems where customers rarely switch once a design is chosen: high-speed SerDes, switch silicon, advanced packaging and custom ASIC design. Its Tomahawk 6 switch chip, announced in June 2025, handles 102.4 terabits per second. In software, VMware is built into enterprise data centers, which makes migrations slow and costly.
Questions about Apple vs Broadcom
Which company has higher revenue — Apple Inc. or Broadcom Inc.?
Apple Inc. reported $416.2B (FY2025), while Broadcom Inc. reported $63.9B (FY2025). By last reported revenue, Apple Inc. is the larger business, with Broadcom Inc. reporting a smaller revenue base.
What is the market cap of Apple Inc. vs Broadcom Inc.?
Apple Inc.'s market capitalisation stands at $4.98T, while Broadcom Inc.'s is $1.68T. Apple Inc. carries the higher market valuation, reflecting investors' expectations of its future earnings power relative to Broadcom Inc..
Which is more financially efficient — Apple Inc. or Broadcom Inc.?
Apple Inc. generates $2.51M / employee in revenue per employee, while Broadcom Inc. generates $1.94M / employee. Apple Inc. shows higher revenue efficiency per headcount, though this reflects business model differences — capital-light software companies routinely outperform labour-intensive manufacturers on this metric.
How do Apple Inc. and Broadcom Inc. make money?
Apple Inc. and Broadcom Inc. generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. Apple Inc.: Apple sells hardware at premium prices and keeps the software, distribution and payment layers on top of it. Broadcom Inc.: Broadcom reports two segments.
Which company is valued higher relative to revenue — Apple Inc. or Broadcom Inc.?
On a price-to-sales (P/S) basis, Apple Inc. trades at 12.0x P/S and Broadcom Inc. at 26.3x P/S. Broadcom Inc. commands a higher revenue multiple, typically indicating that investors expect faster growth or higher future margins compared to Apple Inc.. A higher multiple is not inherently better — it may also signal that the stock is priced for perfection.
Is Apple Inc. bigger than Broadcom Inc.?
By last reported revenue, Apple Inc. ($416.2B (FY2025)) is the larger company compared to Broadcom Inc. ($63.9B (FY2025)). Revenue scale is one dimension of size — market capitalisation, employee count, and geographic reach are also relevant depending on the context.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Apple vs Broadcom overview