Microsoft and Apple both combine products, services, and digital ecosystems, but they earn money in different mixes. In FY2025, Microsoft reported $281.724 billion in revenue, while Apple reported $416.161 billion in net sales. Apple’s top line was higher in these annual reports, but the fiscal years ended on different dates and the companies do not report businesses on the same basis.
How do Microsoft and Apple make money?
Microsoft sells cloud services, subscriptions, software licenses and support, advertising, gaming content and services, and devices. Apple sells hardware—led by iPhone—and Services connected to its products and platforms. Neither is simply a software company or a hardware company: each has several revenue streams and an ecosystem that links products and services.
Microsoft describes its revenue sources as cloud-based solutions, content and services; software products and support; online advertising; and devices. Its fiscal-year 2025 annual report groups these activities into three segments. Apple’s fiscal-year 2025 filing instead reports net sales by product category and Services. Those segment and category labels are not directly equivalent.
Which company reported more: Microsoft or Apple?
Apple reported the larger total in the cited FY2025 financial statements: $416.161 billion in net sales, compared with Microsoft’s $281.724 billion in revenue. The amounts are in U.S. dollars. Microsoft’s fiscal year ended June 30, 2025; Apple’s ended September 27, 2025. This is a near-aligned annual comparison, not a same-date trailing-12-month comparison.
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The labels matter: Apple’s statement calls its top line “net sales,” while Microsoft reports “revenue.” The totals show reported scale, not a direct comparison of profitability or business mix. Microsoft disclosed operating income for its segments; Apple’s cited category table reports sales, not category-level operating income.
What Microsoft’s FY2025 numbers show
Microsoft reported $281.724 billion in revenue, $128.528 billion in operating income, and $101.832 billion in net income for FY2025. Revenue rose 15% and operating income rose 17% from FY2024. Its reported segments show how the company’s sales combine commercial software and services, cloud and server products, and consumer-facing businesses.
| Microsoft FY2025 segment | Revenue | Operating income | What it includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Productivity and Business Processes | $120.810 billion | $69.773 billion | Microsoft 365 commercial and consumer products and cloud services, LinkedIn, and Dynamics products and cloud services |
| Intelligent Cloud | $106.265 billion | $44.589 billion | Public, private, and hybrid server products and cloud services |
| More Personal Computing | $54.649 billion | $14.166 billion | Windows and devices, gaming, and search and news advertising |
These are Microsoft-reported segment figures, not a like-for-like mapping to Apple’s product categories. The company’s annual report presents a range of business types within each segment.
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Productivity subscriptions and business applications
Productivity and Business Processes was Microsoft’s largest reported segment, with $120.810 billion in revenue. Within it, Microsoft reported FY2025 growth of 14% for Microsoft 365 Commercial products and cloud services, 11% for Microsoft 365 Consumer products and cloud services, 9% for LinkedIn, and 15% for Dynamics products and cloud services.
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Cloud and server services
Intelligent Cloud generated $106.265 billion in FY2025 revenue. Microsoft said server products and cloud services grew 23%, driven by Azure and other cloud services, which grew 34%. Microsoft Cloud revenue reached $168.9 billion, up 23% year over year. Microsoft defines Microsoft Cloud as Microsoft 365 Commercial cloud, Azure and other cloud services, the commercial portion of LinkedIn, and Dynamics 365; it is a cross-business measure, not a fourth segment.
Cloud growth also carried costs. Microsoft reported that Microsoft Cloud gross margin percentage decreased to 69% in FY2025 as it scaled AI infrastructure, partly offset by Azure efficiency gains. Its annual report also said cloud and AI engineering investment contributed to higher operating expenses. AI-related demand therefore should not be read as cost-free growth.
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Windows, gaming, and advertising
More Personal Computing generated $54.649 billion in FY2025 revenue. Reported growth varied across its businesses: Xbox content and services rose 16%; search and news advertising rose 20% excluding traffic acquisition costs; and Windows OEM and Devices rose 3%. This mix is one reason “Microsoft is a cloud company” is an incomplete description.
What Apple’s FY2025 numbers show
Apple reported $416.161 billion in FY2025 net sales. Its category figures show iPhone as the largest source and Services as the second-largest. Based on the disclosed totals, iPhone accounted for about half of sales; that share is an arithmetic approximation, not a separately stated figure in the category table.
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| Apple FY2025 category | Net sales |
|---|---|
| iPhone | $209.586 billion |
| Services | $109.158 billion |
| Mac | $33.708 billion |
| iPad | $28.023 billion |
| Wearables, Home and Accessories | $35.686 billion |
| Total | $416.161 billion |
Apple’s category table establishes the amount of sales in each category, but it does not by itself establish category margins, subscriber economics, or what caused a category to grow. Apple’s disclosures cited here do not use Microsoft’s three-segment reporting structure, so the category totals should not be treated as equivalent to Microsoft segment revenue or operating income.
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Services and the App Store ecosystem
Apple’s FY2025 Services net sales were $109.158 billion. A separate Apple update dated January 12, 2026 reported selected measures of service activity during 2025: the App Store had over 850 million average weekly users globally, and Apple TV total hours viewed in December 2025 were up 36% year over year. These company-reported engagement measures are not a breakdown of audited Services revenue and do not, on their own, explain its growth.
Apple also said developers had earned more than $550 billion on the App Store since its 2008 launch. Separately, it reported that the App Store ecosystem facilitated $1.3 trillion in developer billings and sales in 2024, with more than 90% going directly to developers with zero commission paid to Apple. Developer earnings and ecosystem billings are not Apple revenue; the figures describe activity across the surrounding ecosystem, not the amount Apple booked as sales.
Apple reported that Apple Pay generated more than $100 billion in incremental merchant sales, according to the company. Like its App Store and Apple TV indicators, this is a company-reported service measure, not an audited Services revenue line.
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- Work at the speed of your ideas – Built with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite (12 Core) processors, Surface Laptop delivers fast, AI‑accelerated performance—making it the most powerful Surface laptop for everything from multitasking to demanding workloads.
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- Built-in AI Companion – Work smarter, create freely, and communicate with confidence—Copilot[5] on Windows 11 is always there to help.
What the growth figures do—and do not—tell you
Microsoft’s FY2025 disclosures show broad growth across cloud, productivity, gaming, and advertising, with especially strong reported growth in Azure and other cloud services. They also show that infrastructure investment can affect margins and expenses. Apple’s FY2025 category table makes the relative weight of iPhone and Services clear, while its later service update offers selected audience and activity indicators rather than a financial growth bridge.
- Revenue mechanism: Microsoft combines subscriptions, cloud consumption, licensing, advertising, gaming, and devices. Apple combines hardware sales with Services.
- Concentration: Microsoft reports broad business segments; Apple reports product categories and Services. Their labels and aggregation levels differ.
- Profitability: Microsoft reports segment operating income in the cited FY2025 filing. Apple’s cited category table does not provide comparable category-level operating income.
- Ecosystem figures: App Store billings, developer earnings, user counts, viewing hours, and merchant sales are not interchangeable with Apple revenue.
Neither the cited financial statements nor the service metrics establish a directly comparable customer-retention or customer-lifetime-value measure for the two companies.
Quick Recap
Sources and reporting periods
- Microsoft FY2025 annual report and shareholder letter, for revenue, income, segment results, and company descriptions.
- Microsoft FY2025 fourth-quarter results, for cloud performance and related commentary.
- Apple FY2025 fourth-quarter results, for the September-quarter announcement and company statements.
- Apple’s January 12, 2026 Services update, for the selected 2025 activity figures and App Store ecosystem statements.
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