The post Sam Altman’s OpenAI could go bankrupt in the next 18 months appeared first on MacDailyNews.

As OpenAI continues its meteoric rise — boasting billions in revenue from ChatGPT and API usage while dominating headlines — the company faces a stark financial reality that could threaten its very existence. In a new New York Times opinion piece this week, historian and financial expert Sebastian Mallaby warns that despite massive fundraising rounds and explosive growth, OpenAI is hemorrhaging cash at an unprecedented scale, with projections suggesting it could run out of money within the next 18 months if current burn rates persist and new capital doesn’t materialize.

This dire prediction for OpenAI highlights the high-stakes gamble of frontier AI development: enormous compute costs, relentless R&D spending, and losses in the billions annually — even as revenue surges. While OpenAI eyes eye-popping valuations and potential mega-rounds (including talks of $40–100B raises), the clock is ticking on whether investor enthusiasm can outpace the burn.

Sebastian Mallaby, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, for The New York Times:
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Generative A.I. businesses are not like the software successes of the past generation. They are far more capital-intensive. And while behemoths such as Google, Microsoft, and Meta earn so much from legacy businesses that they can afford to spend hundreds of billions collectively as they build A.I., free-standing developers such as OpenAI are in a different position. My bet is that over the next 18 months, OpenAI runs out of money.

According to reporting by The Information, the company projected last year that it would burn more than $8 billion in 2025 and more than $40 billion in 2028. (Though The Wall Street Journal reported that the company anticipates profits by 2030.)

Not even Mr. Altman can keep juggling indefinitely. And yet he must raise more — a lot more. Signaling the scale of capital that he believes he needs, OpenAI has committed to spending $1.4 trillion on data centers and related infrastructure. Even if OpenAI reneges on many of those promises and pays for others with its overvalued shares, the company must still find daunting sums of capital. However rich the eventual A.I. prize, the capital markets seem unlikely to deliver.

The probable result is that OpenAI will be absorbed by Microsoft, Amazon, or another cash-rich behemoth.

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MacDailyNews Take: No worries: Jony Ive’s always-listening OpenAI necklace will save them. /s

There is a very real possibility that as Creative Technology was to MP3 players, OpenAI will be to GenAI.

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The post Apple needs a visionary QB again: It’s past time for game manager Tim Cook to hand off the ball appeared first on MacDailyNews.

In American football, a “game manager” quarterback is one who protects the ball, executes the playbook, and keeps the scoreboard ticking through steady, conservative play. Tim Cook has been precisely that for Apple: an operations maestro who took the reins from the legendary Steve Jobs in 2011 and transformed the company into a financial juggernaut, ballooning its market cap from $350 billion to over $4 trillion through supply-chain efficiency, massive stock buybacks, and incremental refinements of products created under Apple’s visionary co-founder Steve Jobs.

Yet, as Jobs himself might have envisioned, Cook was never meant to be the long-term playmaker — the electrifying, risk-taking, charismatic visionary who redraws the field with bold, game-changing innovations. Jobs built Apple on “insanely great” breakthroughs: the Mac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Under Cook’s stewardship, however, the company has increasingly relied on iteration rather than revolution, neglecting opportunities in AI (like the long-stagnant Siri), launching underwhelming entries like Vision Pro in rushed form, and prioritizing financial engineering over audacious product leaps.

Nearly 15 years into his tenure — one far longer than Jobs likely intended for a transitional “caretaker” CEO — Apple stands at a crossroads. With executive departures signaling the end of an era and succession planning accelerating, it’s time for Cook to step aside. The world’s most valuable company deserves a charismatic, exciting leader once more: a true visionary capable of reigniting the magic that made Apple not just profitable, but culturally unstoppable.

Richard Waters for Financial Times:
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The Financial Times’ report that succession planning at Apple is now in high gear makes it seem increasingly likely that the pre-eminent consumer tech company will soon be under new management.

Strong demand for the iPhone 17 lifted Apple’s stock market value past $4tn for a while over the past month. With a strong tailwind from the huge stock buybacks that Cook instigated as one of his first acts as chief, the share price is up 20-fold from the day he took over in 2011.

But, with artificial intelligence threatening the biggest upheaval to the tech world in decades, Cook will also leave huge questions. His successor will need to demonstrate a stronger appetite for risk and a willingness to bet on a new vision for how technology can reshape people’s lives…

His successor will need to show that they can both co-opt AI to reinforce what Cook built while also harnessing its disruptive potential to ride the next consumer tech wave.

The botched launch of Apple Intelligence — key parts of which were delayed early this year — was worrying. How much that will matter in the long run is hard to tell… But there are obvious risks to taking a back seat in the AI revolution. If LLMs are at the centre of innovation, then acting merely as a rent collector while leaving it to others to define the next must-have digital experiences would put Apple in an uncomfortable position.

Also, if LLMs come to represent what is essentially a new operating system, they will have strategic importance.

Hopefully, the days of a COO masquerading as an Apple CEO are finally drawing nigh. Apple deserves a visionary leader who can once again drive relentless, world-changing product innovation. – MacDailyNews, December 9, 2025

The Vision Pro headset represented his biggest gamble on a new device… But as a compelling vision of how mixed-reality headsets will change your life — the kind of thing that Steve Jobs excelled at — it was a flop. Instead, Meta has stolen a lead with a more lightweight, fashion-conscious range of “smart” glasses…

Apple’s next chief will need to increase the scale of the company’s bets. Among the first jobs: convincing its shareholders, who have become accustomed to the iPhone’s steady profits, that it is time to look beyond Tim Cook’s gravy train.

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MacDailyNews Take: As our own SteveJack wrote last July:

Steve Jobs famously said of Tim Cook, “Tim is not a product person, per se.” That has turned out to be an understatement, especially with the fact that the Apple Watch, AirPods, and even the Vision Pro concept began under Jobs.

I’ve closely observed Apple for decades and I believe that Steve Jobs never meant for Tim Cook to be Apple’s CEO in 2025.

When Jobs handpicked Cook as his successor in 2011, many believed it was a strategic move to stabilize the company during a tumultuous transition following Jobs’ untimely death. However, I contend that Jobs intended Cook to serve as a short-term CEO, a 3-5 year placeholder to mollify investors, not to lead Apple for nearly a decade and a half, stagnating its innovative spirit, jettisoning innovative executives, while relying on financial engineering, mainly in the form of hundreds of billions of dollars in buybacks, to prop up the company’s success.

Jobs, a visionary known for his relentless pursuit of groundbreaking products, built Apple into a cultural and technological titan with the Mac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. His genius lay in anticipating consumer needs before they did. Cook, hired from Compaq in 1998 as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations, was the operational mastermind behind Apple’s supply chain efficiency, going all-in on CCP-controlled China to maximize Apple’s profit margins.

Jobs clearly valued Cook’s logistical prowess, but I believe Jobs saw Cook as a caretaker, not a long-term visionary, expecting him to maintain stability for a few years until a product-focused, visionary successor emerged.

Under Cook, Apple’s market capitalization soared from $376 billion in 2011 to over $3.9 trillion in early 2025 making it the world’s most valuable company (it has since shed some $800 billion over the year, falling to third place behind Nvidia and rival Microsoft). Yet, much of this growth stems from financial engineering, service expansions like iCloud and Apple Music, and a steady stream of annual incremental product updates, rather than revolutionary Jobsian innovation.

The Apple Watch, AirPods, and Vision Pro were initiated under Jobs’ tenure, with their completion coming during Cook’s tenure. The Apple Car project, also conceived by Jobs, was abandoned after a long, chaotic, and costly period under Cook.

It’s clear that Cook lacks the disruptive, charismatic spark Steve Jobs infused throughout Apple. Basically, all of Apple’s successes under Cook are iterations of Steve Jobs’ products and services.

Cook’s lack of hands-on product involvement has slowed innovation, with half-baked products like the Vision Pro being launched to consumers too early and, unsurprisingly, failing to sell. Apple clearly missed the generative AI (GenAI) paradigm shift under Cook and has been struggling to catch up ever since. Steve Jobs likely would not have released the Vision Pro and visionOS in the condition they were launched under Tim Cook. Jobs very likely would have not neglected Siri (which he purchased) for over a decade and a half and would almost certainly have foreseen GenAI early. Very likely, Jobs focus on Siri would have led him and Apple to GenAI first. Visionary Jobs’ main focus was about creating “insanely great” products; Cook’s seems to be about iteration and other, side pursuits.

If Jobs intended Cook as a relatively short-term placeholder, the question remains: who was meant to follow? Speculation points to figures like former software chief Scott Forstall — who Cook rather quickly forced out of the company, ostensibly over the botched Maps launch (which way okayed by Cook, by the way) – and head product designer Jony Ive, who left Apple after years of feeling unchallenged under Cook. Jobs highly valued both executives, even granting Ive more operational power than Cook at the time of his death. Today, Ive is collaborating with OpenAI on a potentially revolutionary AI product, not working for Apple. The departure of these executives, whether explicit or tacit, conveniently solidified Cook’s long-term hold on the CEO role.

While Cook’s canned-video tenure has been financially stellar overall, Apple has for many years coasted and thrived on Jobs’ lingering momentum, propped up by Cook’s beige operational savvy and financial engineering. After Cook’s tenure finally, blessedly ends, only time will reveal if Apple can rediscover its Jobsian revolutionary edge.

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The post Gene Munster predicts ‘Apple will launch the new Siri before April 30, 2026, and it will be well received’ appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Longtime Apple analyst Gene Munster is out with his 2026 predictions. To see his 2025 predictions and how they fared (4.5 for 10), click or tap here.

Below are Gene’s 2026 predictions that involve Apple.

Gene Munster for GeneMunster.com:
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• The Nasdaq will end the year up +10% primarily driven by the AI trade – We’re still early in AI and now believe we are entering year 3 of a 5 year bull market that will likely end with the market leveling off rather than a sharp collapse. The current bubble talk is actually constructive because it keeps expectations in check and lowers the risk of an actual bubble forming.

• Apple will launch the new Siri before April 30, 2026, and it will be well received – As of WWDC 2025 (June), Apple leadership has made it clear; the new Siri will be out in CY26 and I will be impressive. Getting this right is at the top of Cook’s to do list, which means the odds of success are high.

• Cook to remain CEO of Apple – In the wake of the several leadership changes at Apple in 2025, we believe Tim Cook will remain CEO of Apple at least until end of 2027. We don’t expect any announcements on the topic next year.

• Apple will be the best performing Mag 7 stock in in the first six months of 2026 – It’s all about iPhone exceeding expectations in the December and March quarters along with an expanding multiple as investor optimism grows on the belief that the new Siri (likely April) and improved Apple Intelligence will be growth driver in FY27.

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MacDailyNews Take: All four are very reasonable predictions. As for LLM Siri:

A little birdie sings us very positive songs regarding Apple’s all-new next-gen Siri. – MacDailyNews, September 26, 2025

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The post The end of an era: Mac Pro rendered irrelevant by Apple’s own chips appeared first on MacDailyNews.

The secret behind the Mac Pro’s immense power and legendary upgradability was the freedom to install whichever CPUs and GPUs you wanted, along with as much RAM, storage (HDDs or SSDs), or expansion cards as you needed. With the switch to clearly superior Apple Silicon, however, the CPU, GPU, and RAM are now permanently fused onto a single system-on-chip (SoC) package that is soldered to the logic board. As a result, the Mac Pro has lost basically all of the user-upgradable components that once justified its existence.

Ben Lovejoy for 9to5Mac:
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Doubts about the need for the Mac Pro were further strengthened by the launch of the Mac Studio back in 2022. An M2 Ultra upgrade a year later saw the two machines offer identical performance. Things got even worse for the Mac Pro this year when the Mac Studio got an M3 Ultra chip. That means that the current Mac Studio is actually more powerful than the current Mac Pro while also being substantially cheaper.

The only benefit of the larger and more expensive machine is the availability of PCIe expansion slots and additional ports. However, since you can’t use PCIe slots for beefier graphics cards, they are a very niche need these days. In most cases, a Thunderbolt connection to an external accessory does the job.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported a few days ago that Apple has “largely written off the Mac Pro.”

Sad as I would be to see it go, I think this does make sense. The reason for the Mac Pro’s existence – its expandability – no longer applies. Leaving aside the tiny niche of the tiny niche of Mac Pro owners who benefited from the portability of being able to put all of the additional storage inside the casing, there’s just no benefit over the Mac Studio.

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MacDailyNews Take: Being even less torn up about it than Ben, we wrote earlier this week, “Bring on the M5 Ultra Mac Studio and rename it ‘Mac Pro.’”

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The post Apple TV’s ‘Pluribus’ exposes the nightmarish core of socialism appeared first on MacDailyNews.

By SteveJack

In an era where dystopian tales flood our screens — zombies shambling through The Walking Dead, surveillance states choking Black Mirror — Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus arrives like a sly whisper in the dark. Premiering on Apple TV just days ago, this sci-fi psychological thriller, starring Rhea Seehorn as the perpetually scowling Carol Sturka, doesn’t bombard us with overt horrors. Instead, it lures us into a world of enforced happiness, where a mysterious extraterrestrial RNA formula, transmitted from deep space, infects humanity through water supplies and petri dishes, transforming billions into a monolithic hive of unrelenting cheer. Carol, one of a handful of those immune — a grieving, cynical writer in sun-baked Albuquerque — becomes the reluctant rebel, navigating this “utopia” like a ghost in a candy-colored nightmare.

At first glance, Pluribus reads as a clever riff on pandemic-era anxieties, echoing The Leftovers or Invasion of the Body Snatchers with its pod-people conformity and eerie normalcy. But peel back the glossy veneer of Gilligan’s Albuquerque (a far cry from the meth labs of Breaking Bad), and you’ll find a razor-sharp allegory for the perils of socialism. Not the straw-man version peddled in soundbites, but the seductive promise of collective bliss that erodes individuality, innovation, and truth under the guise of equity and harmony. In Pluribus, bliss isn’t a gift — it’s a virus, and its spread mirrors how socialist ideologies can metastasize, promising paradise while devouring the soul.

Consider the setup: Humanity receives this cosmic “gift” — a formula for universal optimism, distributed en masse by brainwashed factory workers into the very infrastructure that sustains us. Sound familiar? It’s a chilling parallel to socialist central planning, where a benevolent (or not-so-benevolent) authority engineers societal “improvement” from the top down. Think of the Bolsheviks’ Five-Year Plans or Mao’s Great Leap Forward, reimagined as a feel-good directive from the stars. In Pluribus, the infected don’t march in lockstep to gulags; they skip hand-in-hand to communal sing-alongs, their personalities homogenized into a singular, grinning “We Is Us.” The title itself, a Latin nod to “e pluribus unum” (out of many, one), twists America’s founding motto into a warning: Unity at the expense of diversity isn’t strength — it’s stagnation.

Carol Sturka embodies the endangered individualist spirit that socialism so often crushes. As the “most miserable person on Earth,” she’s a stand-in for the dissident, the entrepreneur, the free thinker who refuses the collective script. Her cynicism isn’t a flaw; it’s her superpower. It allows her to question the narrative, to see the rot beneath the rainbow. This is socialism’s fatal blind spot: By prioritizing the group’s emotional equilibrium over personal liberty, it silences the very voices that drive progress. Who innovates when conformity is contagious?

Apple TV is the perfect home for Pluribus — after all, the company’s slogan is Think different.

The show’s satire bites deepest in its portrayal of this forced felicity as a counterfeit equality. The infected aren’t just happy — they’re uniform, their quirks sanded down to a uniform sheen of positivity. No more artists raging against the machine, no more Jobsian inventors tinkering in garages, no more messy human debates that birth real solutions. It’s a world where conflict is eradicated not through justice, but through infection: Lick a donut, share a water bottle, and poof—your revolutionary fire is doused in dopamine. Gilligan, ever the moral cartographer, maps this onto real-world collectivism’s track record. Soviet Russia’s suppression of kulaks (independent farmers) to enforce communal agriculture didn’t yield abundance; it starved millions. Venezuela’s oil wealth redistribution under Chávez and Maduro promised shared prosperity but delivered empty shelves and silenced critics. Pluribus asks: What if the “workers’ paradise” succeeded in making everyone equally content? The answer, delivered in Seehorn’s haunted eyes and the infected’s vacant smiles, is a resounding no thanks.

Critics have already hailed Pluribus for its audacity — The Guardian marvels at Gilligan’s chutzpah in imagining a world where “everybody just… got along?” — but they miss the deeper indictment. This isn’t mere anti-utopianism; it’s a cautionary tale. As debates rage over universal basic income, wealth taxes, and “equity” mandates, Pluribus reminds us that the road to hell is paved with good intentions — and in this case, with viral vectors of virtue-signaling. The RNA formula, after all, arrives unbidden, a deus ex machina from the cosmos that humanity eagerly adopts without a vote or a trial run. It’s the allure of the nanny state on steroids: Why struggle with markets’ chaos when an algorithm (or a starman) can optimize joy for all?

Yet Gilligan doesn’t leave us in despair. Carol’s immunity isn’t luck; it’s a testament to resilience, to the grit that socialism’s cheerleaders often dismiss as “greed” or “selfishness.” Carol’s existence a subtle nod to capitalism’s unsung heroes — the outliers who bootstrap solutions, from Steve Jobs’ garage to Elon Musk’s reusable rockets. In Pluribus‘ world, the real threat isn’t scarcity; it’s sameness, the socialist fever dream where innovation flatlines because “fairness” demands we all hum the same tune.

Of course, Pluribus is too nuanced for pat labels, blending off-kilter Twilight Zone unease with Severance-style corporate confornist dread. But, in a time when some politicians romanticize centralized, one-size-fits-all control, Gilligan’s series is a wake-up call: True freedom isn’t found in orchestrated hive-mind bliss, but in the right to be gloriously unique, unpredictable, and inventive.

Stream Pluribus on Apple TV and let it infect you — not with viral bliss, but with provocative questions. In Carol Sturka’s fight, we see our own: Against the tide of tidy tyrannies, holding fast to the messy miracle of the individual. Because true bliss only really exists when it’s chosen freely.

SteveJack is a long-time Macintosh user, web designer, multimedia producer and a semi-regular contributor to the MacDailyNews Opinion section.

MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $12.99 per month with a seven-day free trial for new subscribers. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Mac can enjoy three months of Apple TV for free.

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[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]

The post Apple TV’s ‘Pluribus’ exposes the nightmarish core of socialism appeared first on MacDailyNews.

The post Why Apple Music needs a free ad-supported tier appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Apple Music stands alone in the major music streaming landscape by offering no free, ad-supported tier, requiring users to subscribe from the start at $10.99 per month for individuals (or via family and student plans) to access its full catalog of over 100 million songs, spatial audio, and lossless quality. In contrast, rivals like Spotify provide a robust free option funded by advertisements, allowing non-paying users to stream music with occasional interruptions, shuffle-only playback on mobile, and limited skips—features designed to hook listeners before upselling to Premium. This ad-free mandate gives Apple Music a premium, uninterrupted experience but limits its reach among budget-conscious or casual users, while Spotify’s freemium model has fueled its dominance with over 600 million monthly active users, including 239 million on the free tier as of recent reports.

Ashley Carman for Bloomberg News:
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In June, Oliver Schusser, Apple Inc.’s vice president of Apple Music and head of subscription, was interviewed in front of a room filled with music publishers, songwriters and executives… At one point, he noted that Apple Music doesn’t have a free tier and never will. Take that, Spotify and YouTube!

But Apple’s narrow focus, while a boon for the music industry, may also be dimming its prospects with the next generation of music consumers — namely, people who can’t afford a pricey streaming subscription, particularly in developing markets.
Midia Research pointed this out in a March report assessing 2024’s subscriber growth across the industry… Overall, Midia estimated that by the end of the fourth quarter of 2024 [worldwide], Apple Music had 94.9 million subscribers compared to Spotify’s 263 million.

Tatiana Cirisano, VP of music strategy at Midia, primarily attributes this wide gap to Apple’s lack of a free tier. While eschewing free music might yield Apple a public relations win with songwriters and the like, she told me in an interview, “the flip side is you lack this funnel to adoption, and it’s also a lot harder to grow in markets outside North America and the UK, where Apple Music is the strongest.”

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MacDailyNews Take: We disagree. Have you ever been forced to listen to some cheapskate’s free Spotify peppered with ads? It’s a terrible experience. Apple tries not to allow users to have terrible experiences.

The Apple Music student plan costs $5.99 per month and includes access to Apple TV. New subscribers get a one-month free trial before the special student rate begins. At Starbucks, a 16-ounce Pumpkin Spice Latte costs $5.95.

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The post CarPlay’s says are numbered as much of the auto industry goes to war against Apple appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Apple’s CarPlay gives you the ability to safely use what you love about your iPhone while you drive, but it’s not long for this world, according to Patrick George.

Patrick George for The Atlantic:
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Last month, General Motors CEO Mary Barra announced that new cars made by the auto giant won’t support CarPlay and its counterpart, Android Auto…

Because GM’s software isn’t tied to a phone like CarPlay is, access to the full suite of software requires its own data plan—through GM, of course. (The cheapest plan costs $10 a month.) Get used to these kinds of subscriptions, regardless of what kind of car you drive. In recent years, automakers have realized how much money they can make from in-car technology…

For GM, eliminating Apple as a middleman provides more opportunities to charge for things. “It’s a turf war, and the car is real estate,” Craig Daitch, an auto-industry analyst and a former GM marketing manager, told me…

Some automakers have made a point of proclaiming their allegiance to CarPlay, knowing that’s what buyers want. Toyota’s EVs tell CarPlay how much electric range they have left, so that Apple Maps can prompt the driver to stop at a nearby charger on a road trip…

No matter what car you drive, the glory days of CarPlay may be numbered. For the auto industry, there’s just too much money to be made from creating their own versions. Get ready for a day when your car’s technology expenses are another line item on the credit-card statement, right next to the Netflix subscription.

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MacDailyNews Take: The death of Apple’s CarPlay has been greatly exaggerated above. There are currently over 800 vehicle models from over 60 automakers that support CarPlay. Smart vehicle makers will continue to offer CarPlay and they will be rewarded with increased sales that are shed by every poorly run peddler of mediocrity like GM that fails to offer customers what they want while attempting to monetize them.

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The post In the smart glasses race, Apple will win – Gene Munster appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Veteran Apple analyst Gene Munster predicts Apple will lead the smart glasses market but questions whether glasses can achieve mainstream success, surpassing 500 million units annually. Unlike headphones or watches, glasses face unique adoption hurdles, such as fashion, comfort, prescription challenges, and privacy concerns. Wearing something on the face is a significant ask. Munster’s view is that even if Apple excels, the smart glasses market will likely peak at a few hundred million units yearly, falling short of the potential of phones or pocket-sized devices.

Gene Munster for GemeMunster.com:
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I’ve been researching and investing in Apple for a long time, and don’t remember a more memorable seven months when it comes to product development. In March, the company announced the new AI-powered Siri would be delayed for about a year…

This week’s reporting from Gurman that Apple has paused development of Vision Pro and redirected resources toward lighter, more wearable devices stands alone in modern Apple product development as a miss. Putting the two together, we get a sense of how hard it is to predict and productize where the world is going.

It’s easy to harp on Apple’s recent misfires given it is so out of character. What’s more constructive is to ask ourselves, does Apple have the right north star by going for glasses, and do they have the technical chops to get the job done and be a player in the market. Relative to Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses, Apple has meaningful advantages in retail, distribution, and integrating hardware, software, and services.

Some evidence that it’s hard: Meta’s latest glasses are sold in Best Buy stores but require Meta employees to staff the aisles. Apple, in contrast, has a global retail footprint and experience driving mass adoption of new categories. This advantage will help Apple, but the ceiling for glasses remains lower than phones or pocket devices.

Bottom line, I believe in the glasses race, Apple will win… My take is even if Apple succeeds, this segment will cap at a few hundred million units annually, which is below the potential of phones or pocket companions.

I believe a pocket-sized AI device will in five plus years emerge as a winner. Its strengths are speed, ambient context, and a simpler privacy model compared to glasses. This device would not need to replace the phone but rather complement it.

Consumers will need a reason to carry an additional device, which was the same hurdle faced by Apple Watch, which took three years to gain traction. The Jony Ive device will first be shown off next year and volume production is expected in 2027. If pocket companions deliver speed, reliability, and privacy at scale, they could become the next great consumer hardware category.

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MacDailyNews Take: The question is how does a “pocket-sized AI device” differ from the already pocket-sized iPhone and its Android knockoffs. The iPhone already has everything needed – microphones, cameras, fast processors, display, speakers, connectivity, etc. Why carry a “pocket-sized AI device” when you already carry a smartphone that could, via settings, be set up to match whatever the “pocket-sized AI device” offers (always listening, etc.) and exceed it (on-device LLMs, etc.)?

As for smart glasses:

Meta’s glasses are hardly smart, nor are they a threat to Apple. There is no substitute for Apple’s vast ecosystem. As soon as Apple releases its first pair of smart glasses it will quickly become that nascent market’s leader. – MacDailyNews, October 2, 2025

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The post Apple will be one of the top two performing ‘Mag 7s’ over the next year – Gene Munster appeared first on MacDailyNews.

In a recent discussion on CNBC’s Fast Money, Deepwater Asset Management’s Gene Munster made a bold prediction: Apple will rank among the top two performers of the “Magnificent Seven” tech giants over the next 12 months. This forecast underscores Apple’s robust positioning in the rapidly evolving tech landscape, particularly in artificial intelligence (AI) and consumer hardware.

Munster highlighted Apple’s strategic advancements in generative AI as a key driver. Unlike competitors, Apple is integrating AI directly into its ecosystem, enhancing user experiences across its iPhone, iPad, and Mac product lines. The upcoming iPhone 17 family, expected to launch in September 2025, will feature Apple Intelligence, a suite of AI tools designed to boost functionality, currently rolling out slowly. Munster emphasized that these features could spark a significant iPhone upgrade cycle, with 20% of Apple’s user base — roughly 300 million devices — potentially upgrading within the next year. This cycle, he argues, will propel Apple’s stock performance, potentially outpacing rivals like Nvidia, which he also sees as a top contender due to its AI chip dominance.

Beyond AI, Apple’s financial resilience bolsters Munster’s optimism. The company’s consistent revenue growth, driven by its services segment and wearables, provides a stable foundation. Despite a high valuation, Munster believes Apple’s stock, trading at around 35 times forward earnings, is justified given its product and services pipeline and loyal, growing customer base. He also noted Apple’s ability to navigate macroeconomic challenges, such as inflation, better than most peers.

However, Munster acknowledged risks, including potential consumer spending slowdowns and competition in AI. Still, he remains confident that Apple’s blend of hardware excellence and AI integration will drive outsized returns, positioning it as a leader among the Mag 7 through mid-2026.

MacDailyNews Take: Here’s the video:

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Keith Speights from The Motley Fool suggests that Apple has upcoming growth catalysts that could propel it to a $10 trillion market cap, alongside Nvidia and Alphabet.

Keith Speights for The Motley Fool:
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I predict that the following three artificial intelligence (AI) stocks will be worth over $10 trillion by 2035.

1. Nvidia

2. Apple: Apple became the first stock to sustain a market cap of over $1 trillion. I believe it will be among the elite group of stocks worth $10 trillion or more by 2035. To accomplish this, Apple would need to nearly triple its current market cap of around $3.4 trillion. Is that doable? Yes, if the company can deliver a compound annual growth rate of 11.4%.

The good news is that Apple is already achieving the earnings growth needed. The company’s earnings per share jumped 12% in its latest quarter. The better news is that Apple could have catalysts on the way that accelerate its growth.

Rumors are rampant that Apple plans to launch a foldable iPhone next year. Bloomberg recently reported that the company will introduce a countertop robot in 2027. These AI companions would incorporate a turbocharged and more visual version of Apple’s Siri AI assistant.

Perhaps the most important new growth driver for Apple, though, could be AI glasses. The first version of the new device could come as soon as 2026 and compete against Meta Platforms’ popular smart glasses.

3. Alphabet

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MacDailyNews Take: From Keith’s pen to Mr. Market’s ticker! Read more about how Speights sees Nvidia and Alphabet getting to $10 trillion by 2035 here.

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