Shares of Apple Inc NASDAQ: AAPL are trading just below $300 this week, having staged a steady recovery from last week’s lows that followed the start of its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
Apple Today
$295.65 +1.35 (+0.46%)
As of 10:26 AM Eastern
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52-Week Range$199.26▼
$317.40Dividend Yield0.37%
P/E Ratio35.74
Price Target$314.85
The stock briefly notched a fresh all-time high of $317 when the new Siri AI was unveiled at the June 8 keynote, after which it reversed sharply and gave up almost two weeks of gains in a single day. By the end of the June 9 session, Apple had given up almost all of May’s gains, too.
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But something interesting has happened since then. Rather than carrying on lower, Apple shares have been steadily clawing back the lost ground, and it’s looking more and more like the initial panic was just that, some initial panic. The longer-term picture is starting to look much more interesting than the initial reaction suggested.
Why the Market Sold Off in the First PlaceThe initial selloff wasn't entirely irrational, even if it now looks overdone. The Siri AI reveal looked, in the view of many investors, more like the start of a marathon than a sprint, with key features set to roll out gradually rather than as a single step-change moment.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) Price Chart for Wednesday, June, 24, 2026
There were also valid concerns about how much the system can really do, with limited access to third-party app data potentially capping how truly "intelligent" the experience can ultimately become.
Layered on top of that was a regulatory wrinkle. EU regulators publicly pushed back on Apple's decision not to initially roll out Siri AI in the European Union, criticizing the company for blaming EU technology rules. That's the kind of headline risk that doesn't materially change the long-term thesis, but in a jumpy market on a high-stakes announcement day, it’s exactly the kind of thing that can add fuel to the selling.
Wall Street Has Been Warming Back UpSince last week's low, however, the conversation has clearly shifted. The first thing the bulls started latching onto was Apple's surprisingly quick move toward monetization. Rather than giving Siri AI features away for free, Apple has signaled that the most powerful capabilities will be tied to its premium service tiers. That's a strong early indication that AI will feed directly into the Services revenue line rather than being treated as a feature giveaway, which has long been a central bull case for the stock.
The cross-device integration story has also helped. Siri AI is designed to work seamlessly across Apple's full ecosystem, blending on-device processing with cloud-based execution in a way that no rival can easily replicate. For a tech company just starting to introduce its primary AI play, that kind of ecosystem offers an immediate shortcut to scale.
The CapEx-Light Thesis Is AttractiveThen there’s the broader argument around capital expenditure that’s shaping up, also in Apple’s favor. Unlike many of its mega-cap peers, Apple doesn't need to spend enormous sums on AI infrastructure to participate in the agentic AI era. It can lean on its installed base of more than 2 billion active devices as the trusted endpoint through which users actually interact with AI, and monetize that position without the same CapEx burden weighing on the likes of Microsoft Inc NASDAQ: MSFT and others.
That's a quietly transformational idea. In a market where AI CapEx concerns have been holding back shares across the hyperscalers, Apple is uniquely positioned to benefit from the AI wave while spending a fraction of what its peers are committing.
Risks Worth WatchingApple isn't without its risks, of course. One of the more obvious is the recently announced CEO transition, which will see Tim Cook step down in September and John Ternus take over. Any leadership change of that magnitude introduces uncertainty, especially as the company embarks on its most important product transition in years.
The EU regulatory friction will also need to be navigated, and the broader question of how quickly Apple can really catch up to its rivals on the AI front remains a legitimate concern.
Weighing Up the OpportunityStill, when you have analysts like Maxim Group reiterating their Buy rating in light of all this last week, while boosting their price target to $350, it’s hard not to think that Apple will be well able to thread the needle here.
For investors who took fright last week and ran for the exits, the price action from the past few sessions is becoming hard to ignore. The initial drop screamed caution, but the fresh analysts' commentary, the recovery in the share price, and the underlying strategic picture are now all pointing in the same direction. Sometimes the best opportunities really are the ones that look messy at first.
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Apple aims to release "better and more" TV shows and movies on its streaming service and in movie theaters, senior executive Eddy Cue told Reuters as he accepted an entertainment industry honor in France.
According to recent news, Citizens Financial Group announced on June 15 that Chris Emerson has been appointed head of investor relations.
Kevin Simpson, Capital Wealth Planning, picked Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).
Lending support to his choice, BofA Securities analyst Wamsi Mohan reiterated a Buy rating on Apple on June 18 and maintained a $380 price target.
Don’t forget to check out our premarket coverage here
Brian Belski, Founder, CEO & chief investment officer at Humilis Investment Strategies, recommended F.N.B. Corporation (NYSE:FNB).
On the earnings front, FNB reported on April 16 first-quarter earnings of 38 cents per share, meeting the analyst consensus estimate. The company reported quarterly sales of $450.263 million, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $453.596 million.
Joseph M. Terranova, senior managing director for Virtus Investment Partners, named The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRV).
Travelers Companies will review its second quarter results on Friday, July 17. Analysts expect the company to report quarterly earnings at $4.87 per share on revenue of $10.97 billion.
Price Action
Citizens Financial shares gained 1.5% to close at $68.99 on Tuesday. Apple fell 0.9% to settle at $294.30 during the session. FNB shares gained 2.1% to close at $18.75 on Tuesday. Travelers Companies shares jumped 2% to settle at $316.96. Photo via Shutterstock
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People walk near a screen displaying the Hang Seng stock index at Central district, in Hong Kong, China, February 3, 2026. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
SummaryCompaniesLingyi prices Hong Kong IPO at HK$10.18/ shrSeeks to raise HK$8.3 billionTrading scheduled to commence June 26June 24 (Reuters) - China's Lingyi iTech (002600.SZ), opens new tab priced its Hong Kong initial public offering at HK$10.18 per share, setting the stage to raise about HK$8.3 billion ($1.06 billion), part of which it plans to use for expanding its AI capacity.
The Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab supplier seeks to capitalise on rising demand linked to AI computing and advanced hardware. It wrote in its prospectus that about 37.6% of the IPO proceeds, or roughly HK$3.07 billion, would be marked for enhancing production capacity and upgrading core manufacturing processes.
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This includes around HK$1.71 billion to strengthen manufacturing in emerging areas such as high-density AI servers, humanoid robot hardware and AI optical communication infrastructure over the next three years.
Global demand for AI infrastructure has surged as companies ramp up spending on data centres, high-performance computing and next-generation devices.
"I would expect investor interest to be supported by the current enthusiasm around AI supply chains and the improved tone in Hong Kong's IPO market," said Glenn Yin, director of research at brokerage ACCM.
Lingyi is likely to be priced and traded more as an advanced manufacturing and components company than a pure AI play, with investors focused on valuation, earnings and customer concentration, Yin added.
Lingyi said it expects to announce the level of investor demand for its international offering and Hong Kong public tranche, as well as allocation results, on June 25.
Trading of its shares is scheduled to begin on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at 9:00 a.m. local time on June 26.
Lingyi's Shenzhen-listed shares ended up 10% on Wednesday, marking their highest level since mid-May.
Founded in 2006 by billionaire Zeng Fangqin, the company supplies parts for smartphones, tablets and laptop computers, and counts Apple, Huawei and Samsung (005930.KS), opens new tab as its customers.
Lingyi was among six companies that launched Hong Kong offerings last week. The launches come as global markets stabilise following a U.S.-Iran agreement in the Middle East.
Hong Kong IPOs and second listings have raised $21.5 billion so far this year, more than double the same period in 2025, according to LSEG data to June 11.
($1 = 7.8397 Hong Kong dollars)
Reporting by Jasmeen Ara Shaikh and Rajasik Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Joyjeet Das
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SummaryCompaniesAdvanced Intel chips can take 2-3 years to make, analysts sayApple may test Intel with lower-end products firstAnalysts split on which manufacturing process Apple will chooseJune 24 (Reuters) - Apple turning to Intel for chips, as Washington announced last week, has the neat logic of necessity meeting ambition. But it is not that simple, as analysts say any advanced Intel chip will take two to three years to make and even longer to translate into gains due to the long and exacting production process.
A deal - which neither company has formally announced - would pair Intel's effort to rebuild its credibility as a contract chipmaker with Apple's search for more manufacturing capacity, as its supplier TSMC (2330.TW), opens new tab struggles to meet surging AI chip demand from the likes of Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab.
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Supply constraints at the contract manufacturer have held back iPhone sales, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in April.
Baked into this deal is a strategic calculation. Intel has emerged as a key pillar in the U.S. plan to rebuild domestic chipmaking through tariffs and incentives, thanks to its 10% stake in the company and a $5 billion investment from Nvidia at the behest of President Donald Trump.
"The absolute best possible case would be 2-3 years before the first chips flowed off the line. It takes 2 years to design an SoC (system on chip) of this complexity, and a further 4 months through production cycle time to volume ramp up," said Malcolm Penn, CEO of chip research firm Future Horizons.
This assessment assumes Intel's technology is fully worked out and its design tools are reliable enough for Apple to depend on, Penn said. "With no track record, that's a huge leap of faith and commercial and financial risk," said Penn, who termed the deal "a shotgun wedding".
FIRST TESLA, NOW APPLEAfter missing out on the early stages of the AI boom, Intel has begun to show tentative progress, landing Tesla TSLA.O as a customer in April and positioning itself for a more consequential partnership with Apple.
Analysts are divided on which Intel manufacturing process Apple will choose.
Some see it following Tesla onto Intel's next-generation 14A, a process years away from volume production but built on the world's most advanced chipmaking tools.
Others expect Apple to sacrifice cutting-edge gains for reliability, favoring 18A-P, a refined version of Intel's most advanced process that began initial production this month - or an older, reliable node like Intel 3.
"Apple would probably want to use Intel's 14A process technology... and that's expected to be available in 2028 or 2029 so it's still going to be a while," said Bob O'Donnell, an analyst at TECHnalysis Research.
"However, if it proves to be true, it's an extremely important development for Intel's foundry business and US-based semiconductor manufacturing in general."
Daniel Newman, CEO of tech research firm Futurum Group, said volume production of Apple-designed chips was unlikely until late 2027 or early 2028, with the initial work focused on less critical components used in MacBook Air or some iPad Pro models.
INTEL HAS FACED POOR CHIP YIELDSApple may even hedge, testing Intel with lower-end products before committing its most critical chips, analysts said.
Intel, which has historically faced issues with the timeline and quality of its chips, will have to meet Apple's high expectations for yield, a standard that the world's largest consumer electronics company has come to expect from TSMC. Yield is the percentage of chips on a silicon wafer that work correctly when manufacturing is done.
"Investors are pricing in perfect execution by Intel, which is a company that hasn't delivered for about 20 years. Granted, it looks like Intel has made strides with its latest manufacturing process, but I think we should all at least modestly discount a perfect outcome," said Paul Meeks, head of tech research at Freedom Capital Markets and an Intel investor.
Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala and Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Arun Koyyur
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Anthropic is far from the first first Silicon Valley giant to trigger US government export controls. Apple turned the prospect of a 1999 export limit on the Power Mac G4 into an ad campaign. JOHN G. MABANGLO / AFP via Getty Images Sometimes, the US government's concerns that a powerful new tech product could fall into the wrong hands can be a marketing opportunity. Just look at Steve Jobs and Apple back in 1999.
In August of that year, Jobs, who was then Apple's interim-CEO, took the stage to unveil the company's new desktop "supercomputer": the Power Mac G4. Jobs called it "the most powerful personal computer ever brought to market," CBS News reported at the time.
The only issue was all that computing power technically meant that the device crossed the threshold that would trigger US export controls limiting which countries Apple could ship the computer to.
Jobs highlighted the distinction in the wake of the computer's unveiling.
"The Power Mac G4 is so fast that it is classified as a supercomputer by the US government, and we are prohibited from exporting it to over 50 nations worldwide," Jobs said the Apple Expo, CNN reported in September 1999.
The restriction Apple faced at the time stemmed from a Government Accountability Office report that called 50 countries a concern "for military or proliferation reasons," with seven others facing near-embargo restrictions on computer exports.
Jobs told the audience that the new Macs, capable of operating at up to one gigaflop, could not be exported to the nations in that report, including China, Iraq, and North Korea.
Now — as Anthropic faces US export restrictions for its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI models — Jobs' computer unveiling and subsequent marketing have renewed relevance.
Behind the scenes, Apple pushed to ease the US restrictions (and was eventually successful). In public, Apple leaned into the US government's concerns in an ad campaign recently resurfaced by Tom's Hardware.
Fable isn't the first.
In 1999 the department of defense blocked exports of the PowerMac G4 for crossing the 1 gigaflop threshold.
Steve Jobs turned it into an ad. pic.twitter.com/yHoyJjpSke
— Justin Schroeder (@jpschroeder) June 13, 2026 The commercial showed tanks surrounding the Power Mac G4 as a voiceover declares that, "For the first time in history, a personal computer has been classified as a weapon by the US government."
The commercial ended with a jab at Intel-powered PCs: "Well, they're harmless," the voiceover said.
Apple's 1999 run-in with export controls was an earlier example of Washington treating cutting-edge commercial technology as a national-security concern.
Today, there's an AI-flavored twist that's landed Anthropic into very real hot water. Over the weekend, the Trump administration ordered Anthropic to restrict foreign nationals' access to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models, citing national security concerns related to a possible jailbreak to get around safeguards.
Anthropic disabled the AI models for all customers while it works to clear up what it described as a misunderstanding from the White House. The company has disputed the severity of the issue that was originally flagged to the White House.
Anthropic has long championed its focus on AI safety, and earlier this year said its Mythos Preview model was too powerful to release widely due to its hacking abilities, instead offering early access to selected partners to help bolster cybersecurity safeguards.
The severity of the White House's Anthropic order means it's not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison (pun intended) to Steve Jobs and Apple in 1999. After all, Apple was still able to launch and sell its Power Mac G4s.
But if Anthropic manages to smooth over its latest clash with the US government and re-launch its Fable 5 and Mythos models, Jobs and Apple demonstrated decades ago that having a product so powerful it raises government export concerns doesn't have to be all bad.
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Ben Shimkus You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
Ben Shimkus is a reporter for the Business News desk. He writes about cars, transportation, retail, and jobs. Ben's reporting has appeared in Rolling Stone, The Verge, Automotive News, USA Today, AutoBody News, LGBTQ Nation, TopSpeed, and Out Magazine. He's also held staff writing positions at The U.S. Sun and the Daily Mail. He graduated from NYU with a Master's in journalism in 2024. Email Ben at [email protected] or message him privately on Signal at bshimkus.41.
Apple (AAPL, Financials) is facing another regulatory headache in Europe, this time in Italy. Italy's competition regulator opened a probe into Apple's cloud services to review whether the company is following interoperability rules under the European Union's Digital Markets Act.
Put simply, regulators want to know whether Apple is making it fair and practical for rival services to work with its ecosystem.
The investigation is still at an early stage, and no penalty has been announced. But for Apple, it adds to a growing list of European regulatory challenges around how its platforms operate.
For investors, this is not likely to move earnings right away. The bigger issue is whether repeated EU scrutiny forces Apple to change parts of its services business or raises compliance costs over time.
The next thing to watch is whether Italian regulators ask Apple to make changes to its cloud practices.
Apple AAPL faces a new antitrust probe in Italy over whether its iOS and iPadOS systems give iCloud an unfair edge over rival cloud storage services.
Italy's competition regulator said it is investigating whether Apple limits the ability of third-party cloud providers to work with key hardware and software features under the European Union's Digital Markets Act. The issue centers on full device backups, where the regulator said rival cloud services appear unable to use the same iOS and iPadOS components available to Apple's own iCloud.
The case is notable because it is Italy's first investigation under the DMA, a law designed to stop major tech platforms from using control of operating systems and app ecosystems to disadvantage competitors. The regulator said its findings will be sent to the European Commission, which has broader enforcement power under the law.
Apple's Indian supplier Tata Electronics on Tuesday said a state pollution control board has dropped its scrutiny of the company's iPhone components plant after it addressed concerns about contamination.
The first half of 2026 is drawing to a close, and shares of Apple (AAPL +0.95%) have turned in a disappointing performance so far.
The 9% jump in Apple stock this year is underwhelming compared to the 15% jump seen in the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite index. However, the stock's fortunes could turn around in the second half of the year, driven by the arrival of a foldable iPhone that should help Apple tap into a fast-growing smartphone niche.
Let's look at the reasons why this new product could become a major catalyst for Apple.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Apple's rumored foldable iPhone is arriving at the right time Recent leaks suggest that Apple could indeed launch a foldable iPhone in September this year. There are references to foldable features in the beta code of Apple's latest smartphone software -- iOS 27. Meanwhile, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman predicts that Apple could launch the foldable iPhone in just two colors, while noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities suggests the same.
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Given that leaks about Apple's products tend to be accurate, it won't be surprising to see it indeed launch a foldable iPhone this year. Moreover, it is high time Apple moved into this space. After all, several competitors, including Samsung, have been offering foldable phones for a long time. Apple has been late to this niche, but this may just be the right time to enter the foldable smartphone market.
According to IDC, the foldable smartphone market grew by an estimated 10% in 2025, accelerating from the 3.9% jump seen in 2024. The research firm expects a much larger jump of almost 30% in foldable smartphone sales in 2026. What's more, IDC anticipates foldable smartphone shipments to jump by 21.1% in 2027, 13.6% in 2028, and 9.3% in 2029.
That's why Apple needs to enter this space without any further delay. Moreover, Apple's position as one of the leading smartphone vendors globally will put it in a solid position to unlock a new growth opportunity in foldables. IDC points out that Apple controlled 21% of the global smartphone market in Q1, just behind Samsung's 21.2% market share.
However, Apple's shipments increased by 4.4% year over year, outpacing Samsung's 2.9% growth. Meanwhile, the overall smartphone market declined by 2.9% in Q1, suggesting that Apple's strong brand value is driving sales in a difficult market.
Adding a foldable iPhone to the product portfolio could drive stronger sales growth. Also, Apple is expected to price the foldable iPhone at $1,999, as reported by Forbes. Apple's strategy of targeting a niche user base with this high-margin product could give its bottom line a nice boost.
The tech giant's earnings growth could exceed expectations Apple's earnings are expected to grow by 17% in the current fiscal year (which ends in September), followed by slower growth of 10% in fiscal 2027. However, the premium pricing of the foldable iPhone and a potential jump in Apple's share of this fast-growing space could help outperform expectations.
IDC forecasts that Apple could corner 22% of the foldable smartphone market this year, and its market share could increase to 34% by 2029. The premium pricing of the foldable iPhone could help Apple grow earnings faster than market expectations. That could set this tech stock up for solid gains in the second half of the year, and in the long run.
WICHITA, Kan., June 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Legend Senior Living, a Wichita-based senior housing provider, has welcomed Apple Blossom Senior Living in Moon Township, Pennsylvania as the newest community in its growing portfolio, marking another significant step in the company's strategic growth across the Commonwealth.
With the addition of Apple Blossom Senior Living, Legend now operates 78 senior living residences across eight states and brings its personalized approach to senior living to even more families throughout Pennsylvania.
Located in Moon Township near Pittsburgh, Apple Blossom Senior Living offers a full continuum of lifestyle and care options, including Independent Living cottages, as well as Personal Care and Memory Care options. The community is known for its welcoming environment, personalized support, and commitment to helping older adults live with purpose, dignity, and independence.
"The addition of Apple Blossom represents an exciting milestone for Legend as we continue to expand our presence in Pennsylvania," said Matt Buchanan, President and Co-CEO of Legend Senior Living. "Pennsylvania has become an increasingly important market for us, and Apple Blossom is a wonderful addition to our growing family of communities. We are honored to serve the residents who call Apple Blossom home and look forward to building upon the strong reputation and relationships that already exist within the community."
This expansion further strengthens Legend's position as a leading provider of senior living services throughout Pennsylvania, where the company has continued to invest in communities that offer exceptional experiences for residents and families.
Residents of Apple Blossom Senior Living can expect a seamless transition and continued commitment to quality care, meaningful engagement, and personalized services. Legend's family-led approach emphasizes individualized support, strong relationships, and creating environments where older adults can thrive physically, socially, emotionally, and spiritually.
About Legend Senior Living
Legend Senior Living is a privately held senior housing and services company based in Wichita, Kansas. Legend owns and operates more than 75 residences — spanning Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care and Personal Care — in Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Founded more than 25 years ago, Legend Senior Living remains family-owned and family-led, with a long-standing reputation for operational excellence, innovative programming, and resident-centered care.
www.legendseniorliving.com
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Rebecca Butler
Vice President of Marketing & Brand Strategy
Legend Senior Living [email protected]
Phone: 316-616-6288
Apple Blossom Senior Living
www.appleblossomseniorliving.com
125 Apple Blossom Way
Moon Township, PA 15108
412-539-6446
Seth Fiegerman, Bloomberg AI Team Leader, joined Paul Sweeney and Scarlet Fu on Bloomberg Intelligence to discuss SpaceX's deal to takeover Cursor in a deal that values the artificial intelligence coding startup at $60 billion. -------- Watch Bloomberg Radio LIVE on YouTube Weekdays 7am-6pm ET Saturday & Sunday 7am-10am ET WATCH HERE: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF Follow us on X: https://twitter.com/BloombergRadio Subscribe to our Podcasts: Bloomberg Daybreak: http://bit.ly/3DWYoAN Bloomberg Surveillance: http://bit.ly/3OPtReI Bloomberg Intelligence: http://bit.ly/3YrBfOi Balance of Power: http://bit.ly/3OO8eLC Bloomberg Businessweek: http://bit.ly/3IPl60i Listen on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app: Apple CarPlay: https://apple.co/486mghI Android Auto: https://bit.ly/49benZy Visit our YouTube channels: Bloomberg Podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/bloombergpodcasts Bloomberg Television: https://www.youtube.com/@markets Bloomberg Originals: https://www.youtube.com/bloomberg Quicktake: https://www.youtube.com/@BloombergQuicktake
Apple’s plan to change a privacy feature that lets paying customers hide their real email addresses when creating online accounts could make it easier for apps and websites to block anonymous sign-ups.
Apple’s Hide My Email is an iCloud+ feature that generates anonymous email addresses under the @icloud.com domain, which then forward messages to a person’s real email address. The reason these privately generated email addresses work is because they cannot be distinguished from regular Apple users, whose email addresses also use the @icloud.com domain.
Apple said in a note to developers on Monday that in the coming weeks the company will move its anonymously generated email addresses to @private.icloud.com, effectively making it easier for apps and websites to know that an email address is private and block users from signing up.
Existing addresses will continue to function and forward mail without interruption, Apple said in the note to developers. The company added that app and email providers would have to update their filtering to ensure that emails to customers who rely on the feature continue to go through.
Several Apple users on Reddit criticized the change to the email domain, saying it would make it more difficult to use the service.
Apple did not respond to a request for comment from TechCrunch about the change, or explain why it made the change.
Earlier this year, TechCrunch reported that Apple turned over the real account information of a user who generated an anonymized email address using Hide My Email to send an allegedly threatening email to the girlfriend of the FBI director Kash Patel.
The Trump administration has made efforts over the past year to unmask anonymous accounts, including those of Trump’s critics, by using subpoenas to demand that tech companies turn over information about their users.
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View of an Apple logo at an Apple store in Paris, France, April 23, 2025. REUTERS/Abdul Saboor/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
CompaniesMILAN, June 16 (Reuters) - Italy's competition regulator said on Tuesday it had opened an investigation into Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab over compliance with interoperability obligations, under the European Digital Markets Act.
Under the rules, Apple must ensure that third-party providers of consumer cloud services can inter-operate effectively and free of charge with hardware and software components controlled through the group's iOS and iPadOS operating systems, and have equal access as Apple's iCloud service.
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The authority said in the statement that it had proof that other providers of consumer cloud services could not be in the same position as iCloud, as they did not appear to have access to the same components used or made available to Apple’s service.
The probe is the first opened by the Italian watchdog under the Digital Markets Act, which allows national regulators to conduct preliminary investigations.
The authority said the results of its investigation would be sent to the EU Commission.
Reporting by Cristina Carlevaro, editing Giulia Segreti and Louise Heavens
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction | AAPL Price Prediction) just reported its best March quarter ever, with iPhone 17 demand pushing revenue to $111.18 billion and Services to a fresh record at $30.98 billion.
Tim Cook told investors iPhone delivered a March quarter revenue record “fueled by such extraordinary demand for the iPhone 17 lineup.” Yet shares have stalled near $291.13, up only 7.29% YTD. The question: can Apple reach $400 by 2028?
What’s Holding Apple Back Despite record results, the stock is down 5.27% over the past week and 2.59% over the past month, slipping from a 52-week high of $317.40. Valuation fatigue is part of the issue.
After a 46.73% one-year run, the trailing P/E sits at 35. With a beta of 1.086, the stock moves with the market and amplifies drawdowns when sentiment turns. Tariff overhang and the perception that Apple Intelligence has lagged peers add to caution.
Wall Street Sees 7% Upside. My Model Says 15% Consensus is constructive but timid. The Street’s average target sits at $312.72, with 7 Strong Buys, 23 Buys, 15 Holds, 1 Sell, and 2 Strong Sells. Our base case lands higher at $335.04, an upside of 15.08%, with a bull case of $349.60 and a bear case of $286.99. Confidence on that base is high at 90%.
Analysts are anchored and have not updated for eight consecutive EPS beats or the 63% bullish tilt of the rating distribution. Earnings growth contribution of 21.8% YoY deserves a higher multiple than consensus implies.
The Path to $400 Per Share Reaching $400 from today’s price of $291.13 would require a gain of 37.4%. With forward EPS of $9.35, a price of $400 implies a forward P/E of 43x. Our base case of $335.04 already implies 35x, meaning the bold target requires roughly 8x of additional multiple expansion.
Why is that achievable? If Services compounds at 16.3% YoY, forward EPS expands and the multiple naturally compresses. Three catalysts can drive this.
First, Apple is officially a a NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) customer using Blackwell B200s to power the new Siri, putting real AI muscle behind the install base. Second, prediction markets price a 94.5% probability that a foldable iPhone ships before 2027. Third, Cook noted “double-digit growth across every geographic segment”, including a Greater China rebound. The primary risk is a tariff shock that crimps hardware margins.
The Valuation Case At $291.13, Apple trades at roughly 31x forward EPS of $9.35. That is rich versus the broad market, but the install base of 2.5 billion active devices and a $100 billion fresh buyback change the calculus. Shares sit between a 52-week low of $194.30 and a high of $317.40. AAPL has returned 1,212% over ten years. Multiple expansion has been earned repeatedly.
Is $400 Realistic? Reaching $400 by 2028 requires a 37.4% gain and a forward multiple of 43x. That is a stretch, but achievable.
Three things need to go right: Services growth must hold double digits, the AI-powered Siri rollout must drive an iPhone upgrade cycle, and the buyback must keep shrinking the share count. A tariff escalation that compresses hardware gross margin would derail the path. We’ve outlined the blueprint for how Apple could reach $400 in 2028.
Investors often turn to recommendations made by Wall Street analysts before making a Buy, Sell, or Hold decision about a stock. While media reports about rating changes by these brokerage-firm employed (or sell-side) analysts often affect a stock's price, do they really matter?
Before we discuss the reliability of brokerage recommendations and how to use them to your advantage, let's see what these Wall Street heavyweights think about Apple (AAPL - Free Report) .
Apple currently has an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 1.91, on a scale of 1 to 5 (Strong Buy to Strong Sell), calculated based on the actual recommendations (Buy, Hold, Sell, etc.) made by 43 brokerage firms. An ABR of 1.91 approximates between Strong Buy and Buy.
Of the 43 recommendations that derive the current ABR, 23 are Strong Buy and three are Buy. Strong Buy and Buy respectively account for 53.5% and 7% of all recommendations.
Brokerage Recommendation Trends for AAPL
Check price target & stock forecast for Apple here>>>
The ABR suggests buying Apple, but making an investment decision solely on the basis of this information might not be a good idea. According to several studies, brokerage recommendations have little to no success guiding investors to choose stocks with the most potential for price appreciation.
Are you wondering why? The vested interest of brokerage firms in a stock they cover often results in a strong positive bias of their analysts in rating it. Our research shows that for every "Strong Sell" recommendation, brokerage firms assign five "Strong Buy" recommendations.
In other words, their interests aren't always aligned with retail investors, rarely indicating where the price of a stock could actually be heading. Therefore, the best use of this information could be validating your own research or an indicator that has proven to be highly successful in predicting a stock's price movement.
With an impressive externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool, the Zacks Rank, which classifies stocks into five groups, ranging from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), is a reliable indicator of a stock's near-term price performance. So, validating the Zacks Rank with ABR could go a long way in making a profitable investment decision.
ABR Should Not Be Confused With Zacks RankIn spite of the fact that Zacks Rank and ABR both appear on a scale from 1 to 5, they are two completely different measures.
The ABR is calculated solely based on brokerage recommendations and is typically displayed with decimals (example: 1.28). In contrast, the Zacks Rank is a quantitative model allowing investors to harness the power of earnings estimate revisions. It is displayed in whole numbers -- 1 to 5.
It has been and continues to be the case that analysts employed by brokerage firms are overly optimistic with their recommendations. Because of their employers' vested interests, these analysts issue more favorable ratings than their research would support, misguiding investors far more often than helping them.
In contrast, the Zacks Rank is driven by earnings estimate revisions. And near-term stock price movements are strongly correlated with trends in earnings estimate revisions, according to empirical research.
In addition, the different Zacks Rank grades are applied proportionately to all stocks for which brokerage analysts provide current-year earnings estimates. In other words, this tool always maintains a balance among its five ranks.
There is also a key difference between the ABR and Zacks Rank when it comes to freshness. When you look at the ABR, it may not be up-to-date. Nonetheless, since brokerage analysts constantly revise their earnings estimates to reflect changing business trends, and their actions get reflected in the Zacks Rank quickly enough, it is always timely in predicting future stock prices.
Should You Invest in AAPL?In terms of earnings estimate revisions for Apple, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has increased 0% over the past month to $8.75.
Analysts' growing optimism over the company's earnings prospects, as indicated by strong agreement among them in revising EPS estimates higher, could be a legitimate reason for the stock to soar in the near term.
The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) for Apple. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>
Therefore, the Buy-equivalent ABR for Apple may serve as a useful guide for investors.
The launch of Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone may have contributed significantly to America's declining birth rate, according to a new working paper published earlier this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).
The study found that smartphone adoption may explain a meaningful share of the sharp drop in U.S. fertility over the past two decades.
The findings were notable. In the first four years after the iPhone's release, regions with greater access to the device saw birth rates fall 4.5% to 8% more among ages 15 to 19 and 3.2% to 6.6% more among ages 20 to 24. The decline was steepest among younger Americans but appeared across every age group.
Even after adjusting for factors such as housing prices and urbanization, researchers still found a strong relationship between higher iPhone adoption and lower fertility.
Study coauthor Caitlin K. Myers told Fortune that births fell much faster in places where consumers could access the iPhone earlier.
"We had a baby-less recovery," Myers said, referring to the years after the 2008 financial crisis. "The economy recovered, and births didn't."
Digital Isolation And Economic PressureThe researchers said the trend may reflect broader behavioral shifts tied to smartphone use, including less in-person social interaction, reduced relationship formation and rising digital dependence.
Myers told Fortune she worries the decline could reflect a deeper social issue.
"I see these declines in births, and I'm wondering, like, are we okay?" she said. "People in their twenties, and more broadly, if the reason we're seeing this decline is because people are all depressed and alone and doom scrolling, I'm worried about us."
Why It MattersFalling fertility carries long-term economic consequences. A lower birth rate can shrink the future labor force, weaken consumer spending and leave fewer workers supporting a growing retiree population, increasing pressure on programs such as Social Security and Medicare.
The latest annual report from the Social Security Board of Trustees, released in June 2026, lowered its long-term U.S. fertility assumption to 1.75 births per woman, down from 1.9 previously.
Myers said more research is needed before drawing sweeping conclusions, but she believes the findings raise important questions about how technology may be reshaping social connection, family formation and long-term economic health.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Image via Shutterstock
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Some of the technology world's biggest spenders had a rough week. Oracle sank by a double-digit percentage after pairing record quarterly results with plans to raise tens of billions of dollars in additional financing for its artificial intelligence (AI) data center build-out. Chip stocks fell hard, too, as investors questioned when all of this spending starts paying for itself.
Some investors may think the best way to diversify away from these AI companies is to venture beyond tech. But I actually think one of tech's biggest names offers some good balance to stocks like this. I'm talking bout the $4.3 trillion iPhone-maker: Apple (AAPL 1.52%).
Apple has been flagged by some investors in recent years as behind "behind" on AI as other tech giants spend far more to capitalize on opportunities in the AI era. But what if this is actually a strength?
Image source: Getty Images.
A spending gap in the hundreds of billions Apple's capital expenditures in fiscal 2025 (the period ended Sept. 27, 2025) totaled about $12.7 billion. Its mega-cap peers -- Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Amazon -- combined to spend more than $400 billion on the same line item in calendar 2025.
And the gap is set to widen. Amazon alone expects its capital spending to reach about $200 billion this year -- about 16 times what Apple spent in its most recent fiscal year.
But this doesn't mean Apple is ignoring AI. The company is simply approaching it differently. At its developers conference on Monday, Apple unveiled its long-awaited Siri overhaul, powered by Alphabet's Gemini models under a partnership that reportedly costs about $1 billion per year, with the new software arriving this fall. Additionally, Apple's AI effort seems to run largely through its operating budget: research and development spending was $34.6 billion in fiscal 2025 -- nearly three times its capital expenditures -- and it climbed 33% year over year in the company's most recent quarter.
And while peers borrow to build, Apple keeps handing cash back to shareholders. Alongside its fiscal second-quarter results in April (the period ended March 28, 2026), the company announced a new $100 billion share repurchase authorization and raised its dividend 4%. The quarter itself was Apple's best March quarter ever, with revenue climbing 17% year over year to $111.2 billion and earnings per share jumping 22%.
"Our strong business performance during the March quarter generated over $28 billion in operating cash flow and drove new March quarter records for both operating cash flow and EPS," said Apple chief financial officer Kevan Parekh in the company's fiscal second-quarter earnings release.
In other words, the cash that rivals are pouring into data centers is, at Apple, still flowing to shareholders.
The case against patience Of course, there's a less flattering version of this story.
Apple's revamped Siri runs on models built by a direct rival rather than on technology Apple owns. If AI assistants become the main way people interact with their devices, depending on Alphabet for that critical layer could prove costly. The rival, in effect, now sits inside the product Apple's customers talk to.
And the stakes are enormous. Apple's installed base has surpassed 2.5 billion active devices. That base is a key part of the company's moat -- and it's also what could erode if a competitor's assistant becomes the one consumers actually prefer.
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What to watch Investors should watch two things from here.
The first is how quickly users embrace the new Siri once it ships this fall. This could be revealed in any management commentary in the first quarterly earnings call following the release of Siri AI.
The second main factor to watch is whether iPhone and services momentum holds up in the upcoming quarterly reports. Sustained double-digit growth in both iPhone and services revenue would suggest customers are buying into Apple's AI strategy.
For now, I think the past week strengthens Apple's case.
Restraint can look like timidity when AI infrastructure stocks are soaring. But when the market starts questioning the spenders' debt loads and cash burn, that same restraint starts to look like discipline. Sure, Apple may still need to prove it can deliver great AI experiences. But isn't letting someone else shoulder hundreds of billions in spending -- while you keep the customer relationship -- the kind of position most businesses dream of?
Apple (AAPL 1.52%) is certainly a favorite among the investment community. That's because it has been a major driver of portfolio returns. It helps to have Warren Buffett's endorsement, as the consumer tech titan makes up more than 20% of Berkshire Hathaway's public equities portfolio.
This "Magnificent Seven" stock has rocketed 134% higher over the trailing five-year period (as of June 11). It's now 6% off its all-time high, with shares trading for $295 today.
Can Apple stock effectively double to reach $600 in five years? It would require a compound annual growth rate of at least 15% with stable valuation multiples.
Here's what investors should consider to assess the likelihood of this outcome.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
This is still a dominant enterprise Apple is clearly not a mediocre business.
The company's brand position is unrivaled. This is aided by a stellar track record of product and service innovations, ease of use, and global appeal. Operating at the premium end of the market supports pricing power, which resulted in a net income margin of 26.6% in the last quarter (second-quarter 2026 ended March 28).
Apple's ecosystem keeps its customers locked in, introducing high switching costs that support its wide economic moat. The combination of hardware and software creates the walled garden, increasing loyalty.
There's an incredible distribution advantage at play as well that supports high-margin services revenue. "We have a new record for our installed base with more than 2.5 billion active devices," outgoing CEO Tim Cook said on the first-quarter 2026 earnings call.
Apple is an unequivocally high-quality business. This isn't going to change over the next five years. Investors who understand this can invest in Apple with confidence.
Success depends on the iPhone and artificial intelligence Critics have long called out Apple's slow artificial intelligence (AI) progress. But at its Worldwide Developers Conference, the company revealed new Apple Intelligence features that make its devices more useful across the entire ecosystem.
Apple also announced that after multiple delays, Siri AI will finally launch this year, turning users' products into more capable personal assistants. Siri AI will be partly powered by Alphabet's Gemini family of models.
What matters most is whether Apple's AI offerings will boost product sales, particularly iPhone sales. The iPhone 17 family was a hit, as its success lifted iPhone revenue by more than 21% year over year in each of the last two fiscal quarters. This might mean weaker upgrade cycles in the next few years, since more people bought these AI-enabled smartphones in recent months.
There are reports that Apple could introduce a foldable iPhone in September. A new form factor can definitely drive consumer enthusiasm. But at an expected starting price of more than $2,000, this product will target a niche audience, so it's unlikely to move the financial needle much.
Apple generated $451 billion in total revenue in the past 12 months. It's incredibly difficult to continue expanding the top line at a strong clip when coming off such a massive base.
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These two variables will drive returns Investors know that Apple is a great company. Looking ahead, the iPhone and the AI strategy will rule the narrative.
But the key variables that will affect the stock's return are profit gains and valuation changes. Analysts estimate that Apple's diluted earnings per share will grow at a compound annual rate of 12.9% between fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2028, which is a healthy outlook.
The stock is expensive, though. It trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.7, which reflects the market's rosy expectations. There's a strong likelihood that the valuation will decline going forward.
Over the last five years, Apple has been a wildly successful investment, almost doubling the S&P 500's returns.
The bulls want the winning returns to continue. Look out to the summer of 2031, however, and I think there is meaningfully less than a 50% chance Apple's stock price will double in five years. The combination of valuation risk and expected annual growth rates just below the necessary 15% level is just too much.
Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) stock hit a fresh all-time high around $317.40 in late May, then slid 7.82% in a week as investors digested
Apple revealed its AI-powered next chapter at WWDC 2026 — and not only were we there, we were part of it. Engadget executive editor Cherlynn Low joined Brenda Stolyar, senior staff writer at Wirecutter, Yahoo Finance tech editor Daniel Howley, and Judner Aura (@uravgconsumer) for a panel discussion on Apple's big plans for 2026 and beyond.
Apple (AAPL 1.52%) unveiled its much-anticipated Siri update at its recent Worldwide Developers Conference, and it's a big deal for the company.
The new Siri AI, as Apple is calling it, can remember your past conversations, search through users' photos, messages, and email, and understand what you're looking at on your screen. It also offers a more conversational interface (like ChatGPT).
Investors had a mixed reaction to the news: Apple shares climbed on the day of the launch, then dropped again the next day.
But despite the market's uncertainty, there are two important ways Apple is setting itself up to make billions of dollars from Siri AI. And this upgrade may be important enough to justify investors picking up some Apple stock right now.
Image source: Getty Images.
A new iPhone upgrade supercycle is likely on the way The first way Apple will likely make billions of dollars from Siri AI is by only making the new features available for more recent models -- the ones that already support its previous Apple Intelligence tools. Those start with the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, as well as all iPhone 16s and 17s, the iPhone Air, and upcoming models.
Because iPhone models from before 2023 won't be compatible with the new Siri AI, many people may take this as their cue to upgrade. This is a long-standing play that Apple runs from its playbook, and it typically works well.
Some analysts expect Apple's improved artificial intelligence offerings to create a supercycle that eventually tips the scales for a large fraction of the current 1.5 billion iPhone users worldwide to buy the latest models. Apple generated more than $209 billion in iPhone sales in fiscal 2025, so fractionally more users than average upgrading their devices over the next several years could bring in tens of billions of dollars in additional sales.
Siri AI could cause services revenue to surge Apple is giving away most of its AI tools to its users for free, but it will set daily usage limits on some of their most advanced capabilities, such as image generation. This is typical in the AI services space, and it's creating a new revenue opportunity for Apple.
If users want to push their daily usage higher, they'll need to have an iCloud+ subscription. The company has said "most subscriptions" will include expanded Siri AI usage, which likely means users who want it will have to spring for something beyond the lowest iCloud+ tier, which costs just $1 per month. This could be the first step toward Apple transitioning iCloud from primarily a data-storage service to more of an AI service add-on.
And it could eventually be a very lucrative move. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives believes AI services could eventually add $15 billion to $20 billion annually to Apple's services revenue. That's an especially notable prediction considering that Apple's services revenue was $31 billion in its most recent quarter.
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Why owning Apple could still be a smart move I've criticized Apple in the past for fumbling its initial forays into AI. But I've also come to believe that, overall, the company is making strategic moves in artificial intelligence that could benefit it for years to come.
Apple typically takes a slow-and-steady approach to new services and technologies, and it's sticking to that tried-and-true strategy here. If an iPhone upgrade supercycle kicks in over the next few years because users want to get their hands on Siri AI, then sales of Apple's cash cow product will surge.
What's more, I think Apple is still just beginning to determine how best to benefit from its AI services offerings. I wouldn't be surprised to see iCloud+ evolve in the next couple of years to include even more AI services and different tiers.
I believe Apple occupies a unique position in the tech space right now because of its hardware dominance. While many of Apple's peers are racing to create the best AI model and spending hundreds of billions of dollars on data centers, Apple continues to benefit from selling devices with high profit margins.
All of the above is enough to convince me to continue holding onto my Apple shares. If you don't own Apple stock right now, I think opening a position could be a smart move, though I wouldn't expect the types of phenomenal gains that some AI-first companies are experiencing. Rather, buy Apple if you're looking for a more steady approach to the current AI landscape.
As OpenAI steers away from the consumer focus that made ChatGPT a household name, Google and Apple are rolling out a slew of new consumer AI offerings, trying to show how the technology can be practical for everyday users.
The opposing approaches were laid bare this week, as Apple used its annual developers conference to introduce Siri AI as a new stand-alone app, and OpenAI announced that it's confidentially filed to go public, a move made possible by its recent traction in the enterprise market, largely in AI-assisted coding.
The diverging tracks come at a pivotal moment in artificial intelligence, as OpenAI and Anthropic focus on building big — and eventually profitable — businesses by selling into enterprises that are eager to spend, rather than trying to lure paying consumers who are accustomed to free online services. Apple and Google, by contrast, have massive piles of cash and can afford to subsidize consumer use of AI if it means ramping up adoption and ensuring that coveted users stay in their ecosystem.
Gartner analyst Kjell Carlsson said that for Apple, it's a matter of, "I can give this away for free, because I'll make it up on the iPhones or iCloud subscription they'll be buying."
Apple says it has more than 2.5 billion active devices worldwide. Google currently has seven products that each serve more than 2 billion monthly users.
"Companies are realizing users get value from AI through these products, experiences, and the solutions that we build with them, not necessarily through the models or platforms," Carlsson said.
watch now
While Apple is finally showing some progress in consumer AI, its Worldwide Developers Conference was widely viewed as underwhelming given how late the iPhone maker is to the game and how much anticipation there's been for an upgraded Siri. The stock dropped more than 5% over two days, as analysts questioned the lack of concrete timing and delays in certain parts of the world.
In addition to the new Siri app, Apple also showcased how AI is now being integrated in various products, such as the iPhone camera, email, and the Shortcuts automation and productivity app. The company also spent a good chunk of its keynote presentation on Monday showing new child safety tools, which are rapidly gaining importance as AI becomes ubiquitous.
Apple's annual event came less than a month after Google I/O, the search company's high-profile developers conference. There, Google showed off a number of consumer AI products such as Gemini Spark, which is a general-purpose AI agent, and information agents that the company says operate in the background in search and "will send you an intelligent, synthesized update, with the ability to take action."
Google also unveiled smart glasses, an effort to crack a corner of the wearables market where rival Meta has found success, and a video editing tool that lets users "change what's happening" in a clip they shoot.
Google and Apple are longtime rivals in consumer technology, but they're also partnering in AI. Gemini is powering Apple Intelligence, the technology behind the new Siri. And Apple executives said at WWDC that Google and chipmaker Nvidia are helping the company with its most advanced model, called Apple Foundation Model Cloud Pro.
Apple didn't provide a comment for this story. A Google spokesperson said that the consumer slant at I/O had to do with the nature of the event and that the company had hundreds of enterprise-focused announcements in April at its cloud conference.
'That's where we make profit'Almost all of OpenAI's announcements this year have been enterprise-driven, as the creator of ChatGPT and pioneer in generative AI now finds itself chasing Anthropic.
Anthropic, which was founded by early OpenAI researchers, was valued at $965 billion in its latest funding round in May, topping OpenAI's $852 billion valuation from March. Anthropic also beat OpenAI to the confidential initial public offering filing phase, disclosing its move a week before OpenAI did the same.
Last month, OpenAI announced the creation of OpenAI Deployment Co., or DeployCo, a joint venture majority owned and controlled by OpenAI alongside 19 global investment firms, consultancies and systems integrators. Its stated goal is to deploy "forward engineers" directly into corporations to bridge the gap between model capabilities and complex corporate workflows. OpenAI also agreed to acquire AI consulting and engineering firm Tomoro, which included 150 "deployment specialists."
Meanwhile, OpenAI has abandoned some consumer products as it tries to rightsize its financials. In March, the company shuttered its video generation tool Sora, which hit 1 million downloads less than five days after its launch in late September. The same month, OpenAI announced a pivot away from the Instant Checkout shopping feature it launched last year.
Denise Dresser, OpenAI's chief revenue officer, said last month that the company is at a "tipping point" in enterprise AI adoption, after CFO Sarah Friar said in March that enterprise was up to 40% of total revenue and would be at about half by the end of the year.
"If you look at the total value of software, the vast majority of it is business software," said Rob Collie, founder of consulting firm P3 Adaptive and a former business intelligence lead at Microsoft. "That's where we make profit. That's where productivity is worth paying for."
watch now
OpenAI used the popularity of ChatGPT to build its brand. But the real money is currently being spent in the AI coding market, where developers and nontechnical people are using the company's Codex and Anthropic's Claude Code to write software and build apps based on text prompts.
"Enterprise buying cycles are complicated and coding is the easiest funnel for companies to get into since engineering teams are blowing their budgets," said Ram Bala, associate professor of AI and analytics at Santa Clara University.
OpenAI didn't provide a comment for this story.
One particular risk that Apple and Google face in targeting consumers is that AI skepticism is running hot, due to fears that it's rapidly replacing jobs and leading to troubling behavior among children and teens.
A Pew Research Center study published in March found that about half of Americans felt that AI in their daily lives made them "more concerned than excited." Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in a recent episode of the "Hard Fork" podcast that people are "rightfully" anxious about what sort of future the technology will create, calling the scale of change unprecedented.
Collie of P3 Adaptive said a "backlash" is happening, but that companies "perceived as friendly" could benefit from changing the narrative.
With the entire tech industry almost singularly focused on AI and with Wall Street rewarding what it views as the AI winners and punishing the laggards, companies are investing as if the technology is inevitable and it's just a matter of who gets there first.
"They've all learned the hard way the cost of missing a segment," Collie said.
Gil Luria, a tech analyst at D.A. Davidson, said that even with OpenAI's race to capture the enterprise, the company still has a big lead over Google and others in the consumer market because of the viral success of ChatGPT. He said Apple's rollout of a Siri app "could very well attract a lot of consumers away from both ChatGPT and Gemini."
And analysts at JPMorgan Chase wrote in a note on Tuesday that Apple's addition of expressive voices in Siri "could set up for a device upgrade cycle if these features gain strong consumer traction."
Apple still has a lot to prove, and that task is soon to fall in the hands of incoming CEO John Ternus, the company's longtime hardware boss who's succeeding Tim Cook at the helm in September.
Matt Rogers, co-founder of Nest and a former iPhone engineer under Steve Jobs, said Ternus has a high hill to climb.
"Apple played it safe," said Rogers, who's now CEO of waste prevention company Mill, regarding the WWDC announcements. "As John Ternus takes over, he needs to steer the company towards making AI useful, trusted, and native across the devices people already live with."
Apple unveiled the new Siri at its annual developer conference this week. The conversational chatbot, powered by a partnership with the Gemini LLM, can do many things beyond the standard LLM, since it connects across a user's devices and accounts.
The real story for Apple (AAPL) is its push in AI, says Brian Mulberry. The Mag 7 giant's Siri upgrade is something he sees offering high margin opportunity for future profits.
Major tech stocks look a little sluggish early in pre-market trading on Thursday, as the headline noise continues.
Microsoft looks like it’s going to be a little bit sluggish here early during the trading session on Thursday as the downtrend looks to continue. Ultimately, I think this is a market that will remain somewhat lackluster as the AI trade seems to be fizzling out. If we do continue to fall from here, I’ll be watching right around the $380 level for a potential support level. If we turn around and break above the $400 level, that would be extraordinarily bullish, so do keep that in mind, but as things stand right now, this looks like it’s going to still struggle a bit.
AMZN Technical Analysis Amazon looks like it may perk up a bit. Not a huge surprise, the market is getting fairly close to the 200-day EMA, and of course, Amazon is a company that a lot of larger funds are involved in. It’s obviously a stalwart of the main Wall Street type of trade, and I think as long as the consumer is doing fairly well in the United States, Amazon will continue to be a winner longer term. The question is, can we get a turnaround from here? So, I’m waiting to see if we can take out the highs of the previous session; that would be a good sign.
AAPL Technical Analysis Apple looks like it’s finding support in this region. The $290 level has been important. The 50-day EMA coming into the picture also helps, so I think you have to look at this through the prism of a market that, quite frankly, should continue to be bullish longer term as it is so widely held.
If we were to break down below the lows of the last couple of days, it could open up a drop to the $280 level, but I’m not really looking for that quite yet. It’s just a possibility you have to keep in the back of your mind.
If you’d like to know more about technical analysis and how traders use it, please visit our educational area.
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Chris is a proprietary trader with more than 20 years of experience across various markets, including currencies, indices and commodities. As a senior analyst at FXEmpire since the website’s early days, he offers readers advanced market perspectives to navigate today’s financial landscape with confidence.
Apple (AAPL - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $295.38, demonstrating a +1.3% change from the preceding day's closing price. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.75% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 1.86%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 2.54%.
The stock of maker of iPhones, iPads and other products has fallen by 2.44% in the past month, leading the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 3.11% and undershooting the S&P 500's loss of 1.63%.
The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Apple in its forthcoming earnings report. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $1.86, signifying a 18.47% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $108.71 billion, up 15.6% from the year-ago period.
Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $8.75 per share and revenue of $477.95 billion, indicating changes of +17.29% and +14.85%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Apple. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.
Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.03% increase. Apple is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
From a valuation perspective, Apple is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 33.34. This denotes a premium relative to the industry average Forward P/E of 21.14.
One should further note that AAPL currently holds a PEG ratio of 2.54. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. AAPL's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.3 as of yesterday's close.
The Computer - Micro Computers industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 25, putting it in the top 11% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.
Key Takeaways Apple's Services revenues rose 16.3% year over year to a record $30.98 billion in fiscal Q2 2026. Apple is adding AI-powered features across Maps, Find My, Apple Cash, iCloud and Fitness . AAPL faces streaming and gaming competition from Netflix and Disney as they expand digital platforms. Apple (AAPL - Free Report) is benefiting from the rapid expansion and diversification of the Services business, which has become a key growth driver of the company’s performance. In the second quarter of fiscal 2026, Services contributed 27.9% of total net sales, with revenues rising 16.3% year over year to $30.98 billion, which was a record in Apple’s history.
This robust performance was broad-based, with double-digit growth in both developed and emerging markets and new all-time revenue records across most Services categories. The Services segment now includes offerings such as Apple TV, Apple Music, iCloud, the App Store, Apple Pay and new enterprise solutions, all of which are supported by Apple’s vast installed base of over 2.5 billion active devices.
The company continues to integrate new features and expand the breadth of its services. Apple recently unveiled a range of AI-powered enhancements across its services, set to arrive with its 2027 software releases this fall. Key updates include richer Flyover views and Local Lists in Apple Maps, more flexible item-sharing in Find My and Apple Cash bill-splitting powered by Visual Intelligence.
Apple is also expanding video podcast support on Mac and tvOS, redesigning Shared Albums in iCloud and introducing a new Apple Fitness+ program. The updates aim to make Apple’s ecosystem more intelligent, personalized and collaborative while improving everyday experiences across navigation, payments, media, cloud storage and fitness services.
Apple’s Services business is on a strong upward trajectory, driven by ecosystem expansion, innovation and a focus on both consumer and enterprise needs. For the June quarter, management expects Services to grow at a similar year-over-year rate to the March quarter after removing the favorable impact from foreign exchange.
Apple Faces Stiff CompetitionApple is suffering from stiff competition from the likes of Netflix (NFLX - Free Report) and Disney (DIS - Free Report) . Both Netflix and Disney are expanding their footprint in domains like streaming and gaming.
Netflix is expanding its service offerings by investing in podcasts, live sports events and gaming, including a new kids’ gaming app called Netflix Playground. The company is also leveraging technology like AI to enhance content creation and user experience.
Disney is benefiting from its streaming segment, which has achieved a remarkable transformation, delivering sustainable profitability. The combined Disney+ and Hulu platform now generates consistent operating income, driven by disciplined pricing strategies and robust subscriber engagement. Entertainment SVOD revenues grew 13% year over year to $5.49 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, while Entertainment SVOD operating income surged 88% to $582 million. The integration of Hulu content into Disney+ creates a comprehensive entertainment ecosystem that enhances customer retention and reduces churn.
AAPL’s Share Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesApple shares have gained 8.8% year to date, underperforming the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector’s return of 13.2%.
AAPL Stock Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
AAPL stock is trading at a premium, with forward 12-month price/earnings of 31.78X compared with the Computer and Technology sector’s 24.01X. AAPL has a Value Score of F.
AAPL Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2026 earnings is pegged at $8.75 per share, which has increased by a couple of pennies over the past 30 days. This suggests 17.29% year-over-year growth.
Apple currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
