Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said the company was “open” to mergers, as it increased its AI investment “significantly”. CNBC reportedthat Cook’s statements were made alongside the release of Apple’s new iPhone. Cook’s comments were made in conjunction with the release of Apple’s Third-quarter earnings resultsrevealed that the iPhone maker raked in $94 Billion between April and June. This represents a 10% increase over the same time period last year.
These remarks come at a time when Apple is still seen as being behind in the AI race. Its efforts on Apple Intelligence are lagging behind its peers and Meta Poaching some of its top engineering staffApple is turning to AI startups to help it catch up. Reports have suggested that Apple may even be open to large acquisitions.
A report from Bloomberg said Apple may use AI giants like OpenAI and Anthropic to power its “LLM Siri.” Bloomberg reported that Apple leaders had discussed acquiring Perplexity, a startup in AI search. Apple replaced Vision Pro’s Mike Rockwell in March as the leader for Siri and AI. CNBC reports that when Cook spoke about AI, he said, “We are embedding it across our devices and platforms, as well as across the entire company.” Apple has announced big plans for an AI enhanced version of Siri. However, the release date is still uncertain as the company has delayed the revamp. Craig Federighi said that the software was not “reliable” enough for a wide release.
Cook said on Thursday that “we’re making good advances on a more customized Siri.” “We’re also reallocating quite a few people to focus on AI within the company.” Apple’s iPhone revenue grew by 13 percent over the past year, to $44.6 billion. Mac revenue also grew, reaching $8.1 Billion in revenue. This is likely due to Apple’s release of a new MacBook Air. Apple’s revenue from services like Apple TV Plus and iCloud as well as Apple Music saw a 13 per cent increase to $27.4 Billion, which Apple calls an “all-time” high. Apple stated in May that tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump could cost them at least $900,000,000 during the second quarter. These costs could even go higher as Trump has threatened Apple a tariff of at least 25 percent if it doesn’t move production to the US. Apple has already moved some of its production from China to India in order to reduce its reliance on China. Trump doesn’t like this move. Apple is expected launch its new iPhone 17 line sometime in September. iOS 26 is expected to be released around that time. It will feature the “Liquid Glass”a design language that has divided some users.
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- Emma Roth
