On September 1, Cook handed over the role of Apple CEO to John Ternus, marking the end of Apple's Cook era.

And at this year's Apple iPhone 18 Pro series launch event, Cook no longer took the stage—Ternus did, opening an era that belongs to him.

To be honest, taking the stage this year is not such a wonderful moment for him, because Apple has encountered the most expensive memory in history.

Compared with last year, memory prices have risen four to five times on average. No matter how strong Apple is and how strong its supply chain capabilities are, it cannot suppress memory prices.

For the management team, this is a huge disaster, because excessively high memory costs will have an incalculable impact on Apple's performance. If the new CEO takes office and sales immediately decline and performance plunges, will the outside world question his ability because of this?

So how to make phones sell better and make performance look better should be the first issue Ternus faces after taking office.

But this time, Chinese users have given him a big gift, because Chinese users have been buying Apple products enthusiastically, allowing Ternus to deliver a relatively perfect report card since taking office.

First, in terms of phone sales, the iPhone 18 Pro series rose 3% in the first three weeks after launch compared with the previous generation iPhone 17 Pro, but behind this 3%, the United States fell 4%, Japan fell 27%, and the Chinese market rose 29%. It is precisely because the Chinese market rose 29% that the iPhone 18 Pro could grow compared with the previous generation. If the Chinese market had not grown, or had declined, could the iPhone 18 Pro still have grown? Doesn't this count as giving him a big gift?

Moreover, when the iPhone Duo went on sale in China, it sold out instantly. At the very beginning, buyers had to pay a premium of more than 10,000 yuan. In the first three days of sale, domestic sales exceeded 120,000 units—a miracle in its own right, showing just how much Chinese users support Apple.

Reflected in performance, Apple's fourth fiscal quarter revenue was $114.477 billion, up 11.7% year on year, and net profit was $30.711 billion, also up 11.8%.

Among them, the United States grew 10%, Europe grew 11.5%, Japan fell 1.4%, and China grew 21%—also the fastest-growing region in the world.

It can be said that it is precisely because of Apple's hot sales in China that Apple stabilized its sales, which counts as the first big gift Chinese users gave the new CEO.

At the same time, the Chinese market contributed the largest performance growth to Apple and also helped Apple stabilize its performance. This is the second big gift Chinese users gave the new CEO.

Without these two big gifts, then as soon as the new CEO took office, sales would directly decline and performance would decline. So how would others view him? Therefore, this time he really should thank Chinese Apple fans. Everyone did not support domestic products, but supported Apple and supported Apple's new CEO. What kind of spirit is this?