Apple vs Cognizant: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
Apple reported $416.2B of revenue in FY2025 and $112B of net income. Cognizant reported $21.1B of revenue in FY2025 and $2.2B 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.
Cognizant
Cognizant's revenue grew slowly from $19.43 billion in 2022 to $19.74 billion in 2024, then jumped 7% to $21.11 billion in 2025, helped by large deals and the Belcan acquisition. Net income was $2.23 billion in 2025, GAAP operating margin was 16.1%, and adjusted operating margin was 15.8%. Free cash flow reached $2.67 billion. The company returns most of that cash: it paid $610 million in dividends and bought back $1.3 billion of stock in 2025, and deployed $1.6 billion on buybacks in the first half of 2026 alone, while also spending $1.3 billion on acquisitions and drawing $1.0 billion on its revolving credit facility. For 2026 it guides to revenue of $22.04-$22.35 billion (4.0%-5.5% constant-currency growth), adjusted operating margin of 16.0%-16.2%, and adjusted EPS of $5.70-$5.82.
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 |
Cognizant
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $21.1B | $2.2B | 10.6% | +7.0% | Source |
| FY2024 | $19.7B | — | 0.0% | +2.0% | Source |
| FY2023 | $19.4B | — | 0.0% | -0.4% | Source |
| FY2022 | $19.4B | — | 0.0% | +5.0% | Source |
| FY2021 | $18.5B | $2.1B | 11.5% | +11.1% | Source |
| FY2020 | $16.7B | $1.4B | 8.4% | -0.8% | Source |
| FY2019 | $16.8B | $1.8B | 11.0% | +4.1% | Source |
| FY2018 | $16.1B | $2.1B | 13.0% | +8.9% | Source |
| FY2017 | $14.8B | $1.5B | 10.2% | +9.8% | Source |
| FY2016 | $13.5B | $1.6B | 11.5% | — | 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.
Cognizant
- Health Sciences
30.1% (2025)
Work for health plans, providers, and life-sciences companies, including TriZetto software and healthcare operations. $6.35 billion in 2025.
- Financial Services
29.2% (2025)
Technology and operations work for banks, insurers, and capital-markets firms. $6.17 billion in 2025; grew 12% in Q2 2026 to become the largest segment.
- Products and Resources
25.0% (2025)
Engineering, data, cloud, and operations work for manufacturing, retail, consumer goods, travel, energy, and utilities clients, including Belcan. $5.29 billion in 2025.
- Communications, Media and Technology
15.7% (2025)
Services for telecom, media, and technology companies. $3.30 billion in 2025.
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.
Cognizant
How it makes money
Cognizant is a B2B services business organized into four industry segments: Financial Services, Health Sciences, Products and Resources, and Communications, Media and Technology. In 2025 Health Sciences ($6.35B) and Financial Services ($6.17B) were the two largest; by Q2 2026 Financial Services had become the largest at 31.6% of revenue after growing 12% year over year.
Growth strategy
Under CEO Ravi Kumar S, Cognizant's growth plan has four parts: win more large deals (seven deals of $100 million or more were signed in Q2 2026 alone), use AI to modernize clients' legacy applications, data, and infrastructure, deepen hyperscaler partnerships with Microsoft, Google Cloud, and AWS, and buy specialists.
Competitive advantage
Cognizant's clearest advantage is depth in regulated industries, especially U.S. healthcare and financial services. The 2014 TriZetto acquisition gave it core administration software used by many U.S. health plans, which pulls in implementation, hosting, and operations work and is costly for clients to replace.
Questions about Apple vs Cognizant
Which company has higher revenue — Apple Inc. or Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation?
Apple Inc. reported $416.2B (FY2025), while Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation reported $21.1B (FY2025). By last reported revenue, Apple Inc. is the larger business, with Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation reporting a smaller revenue base.
What is the market cap of Apple Inc. vs Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation?
Apple Inc.'s market capitalisation stands at $4.98T, while Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation's is $25.6B. Apple Inc. carries the higher market valuation, reflecting investors' expectations of its future earnings power relative to Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation.
Which is more financially efficient — Apple Inc. or Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation?
Apple Inc. generates $2.51M / employee in revenue per employee, while Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation generates $59k / 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 Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation make money?
Apple Inc. and Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation 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. Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation: Cognizant is a B2B services business organized into four industry segments: Financial Services, Health Sciences, Products and Resources, and Communications, Media and Technology.
Which company is valued higher relative to revenue — Apple Inc. or Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation?
On a price-to-sales (P/S) basis, Apple Inc. trades at 12.0x P/S and Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation at 1.2x P/S. Apple Inc. commands a higher revenue multiple, typically indicating that investors expect faster growth or higher future margins compared to Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation. A higher multiple is not inherently better — it may also signal that the stock is priced for perfection.
Is Apple Inc. bigger than Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation?
By last reported revenue, Apple Inc. ($416.2B (FY2025)) is the larger company compared to Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation ($21.1B (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 Cognizant overview