Apple Inc.'s 2016 financial statements include the following audit report from Ernst & Young LLP.

Report of Ernst & Young LLP, Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

The Board of Directors and Shareholders of Apple Inc.

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Apple Inc. as of September 24, 2016 and September 26, 2015, and the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income, shareholders' equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended September 24, 2016. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects,the consolidated financial position of Apple Inc. at September 24, 2016 and September 26,2015, and the consolidated results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the threeyears in the period ended September 24, 2016, in conformity with U.S. generally acceptedaccounting principles.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), Apple Inc.'s internal control over financial reporting as of September 24, 2016, based on criteria established in Internal ControlIntegrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) and our report dated October 26, 2016 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

San Jose, California

October 26, 2016

Required: Answer the questions on the following pages.

a. To whom is the report addressed?

b. What steps do auditors take to determine whether a company's financial statements are free from material misstatement?

c. What is the nature of Ernst & Young's opinion?

d. When an auditor's report notes that the financial statements present "fairly" the financial position of a company, it means a reasonable person would conclude that the financial statements are error-free. Do you agree? Why or why not.

e. What other opinion is Ernst & Young rendering? Why is this other opinion so important?