Apple Inc. detailed its first decline in iPhone sales Tuesday, part of an earnings report that broke up more than a decade of continued growth for the tech giant. To cure Apple’s growth problems, Chief Executive Tim Cook suggested he may go shopping.

Cook said Tuesday that Apple AAPL, -3.17% had acquired 15 companies in the past four quarters, though it appears none were material enough for Apple to inform investors about individually. That could change, though, as the Apple CEO admitted that he is open to a large acquisition.

“We’re always looking in the market about things that could complement things that we do today, become features in something we do, or allow us to accelerate entry into a category that we’re excited about,” Cook said, adding later, “We would definitely buy something larger than we bought thus far.”

Apple has never been a very acquisitive company, especially when compared with other Silicon Valley tech giants like Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, -2.41% GOOG, -2.37% , Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO, -1.38% or Facebook Inc. FB, -0.89% . Apple’s largest acquisition in its history was the $3 billion purchase of headphone maker Beats Electronics LLC in 2014, and most of Apple’s other purchases have not come close to that total.

With that in mind, Cook’s statement Tuesday turned some heads.

“They haven’t said as much publicly before, so that’s the real change,” JackDaw research analyst Jan Dawson said.

While Apple’s strong cash position seemingly puts it in position to buy whatever it wants, that cash is not as available to the company as some suggest. In addition, Apple committed another $50 billion to dividends and stock buybacks Tuesday, pushing its total shareholder return program to a whopping $250 billion, though the company could use some of the stock it is buying back in an acquisition instead of cash.

Dawson suggested that Apple’s budget for a potential large acquisition would be in the range of $5 billion to $10 billion, and even that price might be difficult when targeting a company based in the United States. With much of Apple’s cash overseas, the company might have to borrow money to fund a deal of that size, which it is already doing to finance the billions it is sending back to investors.

“Anything larger would obviously be even more challenging, unless the asset is in an overseas market where they have cash locally,” Dawson said.

Apple could be in the market for a wide range of companies that would potentially help out in growth areas while fitting into the perceived budget. For instance, Fitbit Inc. FIT, -0.93% finished Tuesday with a market capitalization of less than $5 billion, and offers wearables with a wider price range than the Apple Watch. On the enterprise side, which Apple has made a focus, a company like Box Inc. BOX, +0.28% — worth $1.6 billion at the close of Tuesday trading — could offer a business-focused complement to Apple’s iCloud. And the startup market could be ripe for deals as unicorns struggle to find funding at higher valuations.

No matter what course Cook takes with Apple to repair its growth issues, he wants everyone to know that he is optimistic about the iPhone maker’s future. After uttering some form of the word “optimism” three times in the previous five earnings calls, Apple’s CEO said it nine times on Tuesday.

“We’re very optimistic that this too shall pass, and that the market — and particularly us — will grow again,” Cook said.