Apple

Apple (AAPL) posted a “modest beat” for fiscal Q3 revenue and earnings, supported by strength across most divisions, and projected Q4 gains in iPhone and service segments signal “the best is yet to come,” BofA Securities said Thursday in a report. Results on from Q3 showed “growth accelerated in iPhone, iPad and wearables and across regions,” while guidance for the September quarter was “conservative,” BofA said. “We see upside in iPhones/Services given the upcoming launch of iPhone 16 with Apple Intelligence,” BofA said. “We further see the potential for significant acceleration of units in the December quarter and overall in FY25 with the rollout of Apple Intelligence.” BofA reiterated its buy rating on Apple, citing “potential for consensus estimates to be revised higher given multiyear iPhone upgrade cycle, tailwinds to gross margins and strong cash flows.” BofA kept its $256 price objective on Apple stock. At least four other analysts […]

Apple (AAPL) is looking to ship at least 90 million iPhone 16s in the second half of the year, driven by demand for the AI services from its new lineup, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. The company told partners and suppliers that it’s aiming for about 10% growth in shipments of new iPhones compared to their predecessors, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. Apple shipped about 81 million iPhone 15s in the latter half of 2023. Apple expects the addition of new artificial intelligence tools to drive demand for iPhone 16 when it launches later this year. Earlier today, the company said it would include Microsoft-backed (MSFT) OpenAI’s ChatGPT into upcoming updates of iPhones as part of upgrades called Apple Intelligence.

Artificial intelligence may be the phrase of the moment in big tech, but Apple has a giant opportunity in advertising, some analysts say. Needham analysts Laura Martin and Dan Medina raised their price target on Apple stock to $260 from $220, and reiterated a Buy rating on Wednesday. They cited the company’s $110 billion share-repurchase authorization, while peers are devoting dollars to Generative AI instead. “However, over a three-year time frame, Apple’s single-digit revenue-growth rate feels increasingly at risk to us,” analysts wrote. “We believe that Apple should build an advertising business, just as Amazon.com has done.” The team offered a few reasons Apple should jump into advertising. First, total global ad spending this year will be $966 billion, and mobile advertising will be $500 billion, dwarfing the consensus call for Apple’s 2024 revenue of less than $400 billion. Second, ad margins tend to be 70% to 80%, which would

AAPL held its annual WWDC today where it announced incremental new features across iOS and other operating systems, along with Apple Intelligence (AI) tolls it will roll out. We believe Siri received its biggest upgrade ever and comes integrated with free access to ChatGPT for users. AAPL also highlighted the benefits of overlaying AI with consumer data, providing a personal touch, and repeatedly stressing the importance of privacy, announcing its Private Cloud Compute platform (run on Apple servers). Apple Intelligence will be available initially on the iPhone 15 Pros, iPad/Macs with M1 and later, and iPhone 16 devices slated to roll out this fall. Although the event didn’t showcase any major surprises, we are impressed with AI integration across AAPL’s ecosystem (e.g., Siri, rewrite, summarization, Genmoji, image wand, etc.) and see the potential for developers to create disruptive apps in the years to come. Ultimately, that will allow support installed

By Joanna Stern CUPERTINO, Calif. — If I had a dollar for every time an executive said ” Apple Intelligence” at its developer’s conference on Monday, I’d have a steak dinner with all the trimmings. (So, yes, about 60 times.) After nearly two years of sitting out the generative-artificial-intelligence frenzy, Apple finally jumped in the deep end. The company is injecting AI tools throughout coming versions of its biggest platforms: iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and MacOS Sequoia. There’s a new and improved Siri you can even text with. There’s a new partnership with OpenAI that will bring ChatGPT into Apple apps. There are ways to generate new images and emojis on the fly. The company says we’ll start seeing the features this fall, but some of the more ambitious ones might not debut until 2025. So what was Apple’s strategy with all these updates? To show AI integrated into the

By Aaron Tilley For those who saw them, the demonstrations inside Apple earlier this decade of a revamped Siri offered a showcase of the amazing capabilities a powerful AI voice assistant could have. The famed assistant, one of the last projects Apple co-founder Steve Jobs worked on before his death, had been given a total overhaul. Capable of running on an iPhone and without an internet connection, the new Siri impressed people with its improved speed, conversational capabilities and the accuracy with which it understood user commands. Code-named Project Blackbird, the effort also imagined a Siri with capabilities built by third-party app developers, according to people familiar with the work. Yet a competing project won out in an internal contest ahead of the 10-year anniversary of Siri’s launch. Known as Siri X, the more-modest upgrade involved moving more existing Siri software onto iPhones from remote servers to improve the voice

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives believes next week’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will be a “pivotal moment” for Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) as he sees it ushering in the company’s next growth cycle, driven by artificial intelligence (AI). Apple To Introduce AI: Apple’s WWDC 2024 is set to kick off on June 10. Ives expects a formal announcement from Apple regarding a partnership with OpenAI, including a chatbot with exclusive features building upon on-device Apple large language models (LLMs) and cloud-powered Apple LLMs. In a new note released Tuesday, Ives predicted that Apple would lay the groundwork for an AI App Store on its new AI software stack, which will lead to additional growth in the company’s Services segment in the coming years. Ives highlighted Apple’s “rock solid” Services segment and its double-digit growth as key drivers of the company’s valuation. The Wedbush analyst also expects the iPhone 16 to include new

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is set to unveil significant advancements at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) from June 10-14, 2024, with a highly anticipated keynote on June 10. The tech giant is expected to spotlight new AI-powered features across its core applications, along with updates to its operating systems, according to a recent note by Goldman Sachs analyst Michael Ng. AI Integration Across Apple Ecosystem Goldman Sachs anticipates Apple’s AI strategy will focus on embedding generative AI tools within its core applications like Safari, Photos, and Notes, providing practical tools for users through a blend of on-device and cloud processing. Ng stated, “We expect Apple’s AI strategy to be focused on embedding generative AI tools within its core applications to provide practical tools for users.” The upcoming iOS 18, traditionally announced at WWDC and released in mid-to-late September, is poised to be a cornerstone of Apple’s AI integration. Ng noted

Analysts are predicting a significant shift in the smartphone industry with the introduction of AI-powered “IntelliPhones,” and are reiterating Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) as a “top pick.” What Happened: Analysts at Bank of America are expecting the advent of AI smartphones, or “IntelliPhones,” to trigger a major upgrade cycle, akin to the introduction of smartphones. These devices are predicted to dominate edge AI, outperforming AI PCs due to their portability, features, and cost. “We expect the adoption curve of AI phones to be faster than the adoption of smartphones. With an installed base of over 4 billion smartphones, we see the opportunity for the next upgrade cycle to be once in a decade type of event,” the analysts at Bank of America Securities said in a note seen by Benzinga. While Apple is not expected to reveal all the AI features at the upcoming WWDC, a pathway for “IntelliPhones” to become mainstream is

According to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), shipments of foreign-branded phones in China increased 52% in April. AAPL is not specifically broken out; the iPhone does represent an overwhelming majority of foreign-branded smartphone units. This builds on the momentum from March after sharp declines in the first 2 months of the year. We think more aggressive pricing discounts is helping unit growth return as CEO Tim Cook alluded to a more competitive environment in China earlier this month. We would note that we, as well as the consensus, currently forecast a decline in China for the Jun-Q (down about 3%-4% Y/Y), typically the trough of the iPhone cycle, providing potential upside should the momentum persist. Separately, we think AAPL’s ambitions towards greater AI capabilities ahead of the iPhone 16 launch this fall should appeal to China consumers and also better positions it at the

By Angela Palumbo Apple stock has been regaining its footing after earnings, and Evercore ISI expects more gains, largely from the tech company’s most popular product. Analyst Amit Daryanani rates Apple at Outperform with a target of $220 for the price, which implies a gain of 20% from its closing level of $182.74 on Wednesday. The stock has dropped 4.7% this year but is up 5.6% over the past 12 months. Wall Street has been waiting to see how Apple will respond as other tech companies unveil initiatives linked to generative artificial intelligence, as well as whether it can improve its market share in China. Concern about both points has weighed on the stock, but Daryanani said in a note Thursday that “investors should not underestimate the ability of the iPhone to continue to deliver growth over the next five years.” The iPhone is by far the largest revenue generator