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Microsoft vs. Apple: Business Models, Revenue, and Growth Drivers Compared

Apple reported higher FY2025 sales than Microsoft, but their fiscal periods and reporting categories differ. See how each company earns money and what drove growth.
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Apple reported more FY2025 sales than Microsoft reported revenue: $416.161 billion versus $281.724 billion. But the comparison needs context: Apple’s fiscal year ended September 27, 2025, while Microsoft’s ended June 30, 2025, and Apple reports sales by product category while Microsoft reports three broader business segments. Their models also differ: Microsoft combines subscriptions, cloud services, licensing, advertising, gaming and devices; Apple combines hardware sales—led by iPhone—with Services.

How do Microsoft and Apple make money?

Both companies earn money from multiple businesses, but their revenue structures are different. Microsoft sells software and subscriptions to organizations and consumers, provides cloud and server services, and also earns from advertising, gaming and devices. Apple’s reported sales are organized around products and Services, with iPhone the largest product category.

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Microsoft describes its revenue sources as cloud-based solutions, content and services; software products and support; online advertising; and devices. Apple’s FY2025 category table separates iPhone, Mac, iPad, Wearables, Home and Accessories, and Services. These are not equivalent classifications: Microsoft’s three segments span multiple products and customer types, whereas Apple’s categories are primarily products plus a services category.

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Which company reported more in FY2025?

In US dollars, Apple reported $416.161 billion in net sales for FY2025 and Microsoft reported $281.724 billion in revenue. Apple’s reported top line was higher, but this is a near-aligned annual comparison rather than a same-date trailing-twelve-month comparison: Apple’s fiscal year ended September 27, 2025, and Microsoft’s ended June 30, 2025. Apple calls its top line “net sales”; Microsoft calls it “revenue.”

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Company and period Reported top line Operating income Net income
Microsoft FY2025, year ended June 30, 2025 $281.724 billion revenue $128.528 billion $101.832 billion
Apple FY2025, year ended September 27, 2025 $416.161 billion net sales not stated in the cited category table not stated in the cited category table

Microsoft’s revenue rose 15% and operating income rose 17% from FY2024. The cited Apple category figures show sales mix, not category-level operating income, so they do not support a like-for-like comparison of segment profitability. Microsoft FY2025 annual report; Apple FY2025 fourth-quarter results.

What drives Microsoft’s revenue and growth?

Microsoft’s FY2025 reporting divides its businesses into Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The segments combine subscriptions and cloud consumption with software licensing, advertising, gaming and devices.

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Microsoft FY2025 segment Revenue Operating income Selected reported growth
Productivity and Business Processes $120.810 billion $69.773 billion Microsoft 365 Commercial products and cloud services: 14%; Microsoft 365 Consumer products and cloud services: 11%; LinkedIn: 9%; Dynamics products and cloud services: 15%
Intelligent Cloud $106.265 billion $44.589 billion Server products and cloud services: 23%; Azure and other cloud services: 34%
More Personal Computing $54.649 billion $14.166 billion Xbox content and services: 16%; search and news advertising: 20% excluding traffic acquisition costs; Windows OEM and Devices: 3%

Microsoft Cloud generated $168.9 billion in FY2025 revenue, up 23% year over year. Microsoft defines Microsoft Cloud to include Microsoft 365 Commercial cloud, Azure and other cloud services, the commercial portion of LinkedIn, and Dynamics 365. Because this definition spans businesses reported across segments, Microsoft Cloud is not an additional segment to add to the table. Microsoft attributed Azure and other cloud services growth to demand across its portfolio. Microsoft FY2025 annual report.

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Subscriptions, business software and professional networking

Productivity and Business Processes was Microsoft’s largest FY2025 segment by revenue and operating income. It includes Microsoft 365 commercial and consumer products and cloud services, LinkedIn, and Dynamics products and cloud services. Its mix gives Microsoft several recurring and business-oriented revenue streams, rather than relying on a single productivity product.

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Cloud and server services

Intelligent Cloud includes public, private and hybrid server products and cloud services. Its 34% Azure and other cloud services growth was among the strongest rates reported here, making cloud a major FY2025 growth driver. At the same time, Microsoft Cloud’s gross margin percentage decreased to 69% in FY2025 as the company scaled AI infrastructure, partly offset by Azure efficiency gains. Microsoft also reported that cloud and AI engineering investment contributed to higher operating expenses. The figures point to growth accompanied by substantial infrastructure investment, not cost-free expansion. Microsoft FY2025 annual report.

Gaming, advertising and personal computing

More Personal Computing combines Windows and devices, gaming, and search and news advertising. Its reported growth rates varied: Xbox content and services rose 16%, search and news advertising rose 20% excluding traffic acquisition costs, and Windows OEM and Devices rose 3%. This breadth is why describing Microsoft only as a cloud company misses meaningful parts of its business.

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What drives Apple’s revenue and growth?

Apple reported $416.161 billion in FY2025 net sales. Its disclosed categories show a hardware-led business with a substantial Services contribution. iPhone sales of $209.586 billion were approximately half of total net sales, calculated from Apple’s reported category and total figures; Services was the second-largest category.

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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

These figures establish the relative scale of Apple’s categories, but they do not show category-level margins, subscriber economics or what caused growth. Apple does not use the same three-segment reporting scheme as Microsoft in the cited materials. Apple FY2025 fourth-quarter results.

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Hardware, led by iPhone

iPhone accounted for about half of Apple’s FY2025 net sales by calculation from the disclosed values. Mac, iPad, and Wearables, Home and Accessories added other hardware categories, but none approached iPhone’s reported scale. Apple’s sales figures show concentration in iPhone; they do not by themselves establish product profitability or customer behavior.

Services and the surrounding App Store ecosystem

Services brought in $109.158 billion in Apple FY2025 net sales, making it the second-largest category. Apple’s January 12, 2026 update offered selected activity indicators for 2025: the App Store averaged more than 850 million weekly users globally. Apple also said developers had earned more than $550 billion on the App Store since its 2008 launch.

Those activity measures should not be mistaken for Apple revenue. Apple separately 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 billings and sales” describes commerce across the ecosystem, not Apple’s own sales. Apple also reported that Apple TV total hours viewed in December 2025 rose 36% year over year and that Apple Pay generated more than $100 billion in incremental merchant sales; these are company-reported service indicators, not audited breakdowns of Services revenue. Apple’s January 2026 Services update.

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What the comparison can—and cannot—tell you

  • Scale: Apple’s FY2025 reported net sales exceeded Microsoft’s FY2025 revenue, but the fiscal years ended nearly three months apart.
  • Business mix: Microsoft’s segments combine different types of business; Apple’s categories separate product families and Services. Segment and category values should not be treated as directly equivalent.
  • Profitability: Microsoft reports segment operating income in the cited figures. Apple’s cited category table reports net sales, not category operating income, so it cannot establish which Apple category is most profitable.
  • Growth: Microsoft disclosed multiple FY2025 business growth rates, including 34% for Azure and other cloud services. Apple’s cited 2025 service update provides selected engagement and ecosystem measures, not a comparable audited growth bridge by service.
  • Ecosystem economics: Apple’s App Store activity illustrates the scale of commerce and developer activity around its platform, but ecosystem billings are not Apple revenue. Microsoft’s reported cloud growth must likewise be read alongside its disclosure of AI infrastructure-related margin pressure and investment.

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