Latest news with #AppleInc
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Analyst Highlights ‘Urgent Risks' and Threats to Apple (AAPL) Fundamentals
Laura Martin, Needham and Company senior internet and media analyst, recently explained on CNBC the rationale behind her downgrade of Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock that created a lot of buzz on Wall Street. Threats to iPhone sales and valuation are the two main concerns the analyst cited for the rating action: 'Let's go to the urgent risks. Urgent risks are super highly valued, 26 percent four times forward earnings on a consensus. Our earnings are below that on a PE basis, but that's twice its historical trading PE, and it's a nice big premium to the average S&P PE. And it's traded at a premium to some of its big tech competitors, which are growing two to three times faster. So we don't get that. We prefer Google and Amazon to this name on relative valuation. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is desperately in need of new catalysts. The company's revenue in China fell 8% in fiscal year 2024, following a 2% decline the previous year. The Chinese market accounts for about 15% of Apple's total revenue, so this downtrend cannot be ignored. Investors had hopes from the Wearables, Home, and Accessories segment, but so far, its performance has been weak. Vision Pro faces tough competition from Meta's $500 Quest and the more affordable Quest 3S, making it hard to justify its $3,500 price tag. The failure of Apple's HomePod, unable to compete with Amazon's and Google's lower-priced offerings, further highlights the challenges in this market. Apple's iPhone 16 has not shown promising growth prospects yet, and investors are still in a wait-and-see mode on the AI platform. Sands Capital Select Growth Fund stated the following regarding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its Q1 2025 investor letter: 'We exited Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in March to fund what we view as compelling additions to existing holdings during the market selloff and to strengthen our cash position for future opportunities. Apple's inclusion in Select Growth was intended to provide stability to the portfolio. However, in the current market environment, we see greater upside potential in other businesses and view cash as a more effective tool for downside protection and opportunistic deployment. We remain positive on the potential for shorter replacement cycles for computers and mobile devices driven by Apple Intelligence. That said, the delayed rollout of AI features—and Apple's acknowledgment that some may be indefinitely postponed—could limit its ability to exceed earnings expectations. Apple remains a leading global technology business with a vast hardware and software ecosystem, strong customer lock-in, and powerful network effects. We will continue to monitor its progress and its potential fit within the Select Growth portfolio.' While we acknowledge the potential of AAPL as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Sign in to access your portfolio
Forbes
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Apple Loop: iPhone 17 Pro's Surprising Secret, MacOS Attacks Gaming, Apple's Finder Problem
Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise attend the European Premiere of Apple's "F1 The Movie" at Cineworld, ... More Leicester Square on June 23, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by)Taking a look back at this week's news and headlines from across the Apple world, including iPhone 17 Pro design leaks, a secret iPhone surprise, F1 the Movie's In-App woes, iPhone 17 Air's lightweight upgrade, specs for the next A Series chipset, new macOS apps from Apple, and the problem with the Finder logo is still there. Apple Loop is here to remind you of a few of the many discussions around Apple in the last seven days. You can also read my weekly digest of Android news here on Forbes. We've got a closer look at one of the more contentious changes to the iPhone 17 design this week, with pictures of the camera bar in action. This replaces the Majin Blu leaked images, showing the new iPhone 17 Pro design, and its redesigned camera bar that stretches to the edges of the handset: '…the reason it's interesting is that it shows the new camera panel design in a way that many will find attractive. Previously, I've been skeptical about how the predicted wider camera panel will work in practice. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman revealed that the panel would not be black on all models, that it would match the color of the iPhone." (X via Forbes). Announced at the Worldwide Developer Conference earlier this month was the new user interface for iOS 26. While the liquid glass UI will appear across every iPhone running the updated software, will the iPhone 17 user base have a hidden musical surprise? "The ringtone is a new version of the Reflection ringtone which has been the default option since the iPhone X launched in 2017. As Perris suggests, it could be an indication that the ringtone will be restricted, to select handsets when it is released. Perris notes that the remix is, 'a glassy new ringtone called 'ReflectionAlt1-EncoreRemix'. It's not live yet in the beta but it is present in the filesystem. Perhaps an iPhone 17 exclusive,' he asks." (Forbes). F1 The Movie And Apple's In-App Guidelines Apple is in full promotional mode for its F1 The Movie release and is taking every opportunity to mention it. Apple users who are seeing pop-up alerts for the film in their notification bar are wondering why they are receiving these promotions, which many feel are prohibited by Apple's own guidelines. "Apple customers aren't thrilled they're getting an ad from the Apple Wallet app promoting the tech giant's original film 'F1 the Movie.' Across social media, iPhone owners are complaining that their Wallet app sent out a push notification offering a $10 discount at Fandango for anyone buying two or more tickets to the film… However well-received the film may be, iPhone users don't necessarily want their built-in utilities, like their digital wallet, marketing to them. (TechCrunch). iPhone 17 Air Exclusive The iPhone 16e debuted Apple's C1 Modem, the first tangible result from Apple's purchase of Intel's modem division in a $1 billion deal. The majority of the next iPhone is expected to still use Qualcomm's modem technology. The fashionably thin iPhone 17 Air is set to run the modem and reap the benefits of the smaller design: "This new iPhone will launch in the fall as a replacement for the Plus model in Apple's lineup. It will emphasize form over function, with a radically thin design, single rear camera, and yes, the C1 modem. One likely reason Apple's bringing C1 to the iPhone 17 Air is for its efficiency improvements. Those will undoubtedly be important for a model that has less physical space for battery." (9to5Mac). A19 Specs The A18 chipset is expected to debut with the iPhone 17 family, but work has begun on next year's powerful upgrade. The standard, already set by Qualcomm's Snapdragon Elite 2, could be surpassed if Apple want it, but there may be a bigger goal in mind: "…it is believed that Apple's A19 chip could be as fast as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite 2. The Elite 2 is a yet-to-launch chipset that follows the Snapdragon 8 Elite, used in high-performance Android smartphones… While Apple observers will be happy to hear the performance similarity, the actual result in consumer devices could be lower. The leaker adds that Apple still focuses on PPA (Power, Performance, Area) in its chip designs, and prefers to work with energy efficiency in mind." (Apple Insider). New macOS Apps From Tahoe Tucked into the upcoming macOS 26 release are two new apps. Journal comes over from iOS to help organise your thoughts and ideas—no doubt with some Continuity for synchronising, and a new Phone app supports calls and messaging again through Continuity. The curious third addition is Apple Games. As Tim Cook and his team try to gain traction against the might of Xbox and PlayStation, as well as the flexibility of the Steam Deck, can Apple finally get gaming right this time ? "The new Games app will arrive simultaneously in macOS Tahoe, iOS 26, and iPadOS 26 as a one-stop hub for all your gaming needs. Features include the ability to discover new games, launch any titles installed on your Mac, and keep up with friends via leaderboards, challenges, and more." (9to5Mac). And Finally... How much damage is Apple doing to the brand with its changes to the Finder logo. The new push to a unified UI has led to an alteration of one of the longest-standing brand images in computing. Given the pushback from the community, Apple is doing a lot of damage for very little return: "The Finder logo is the Mac logo. The Macintosh is the platform that held Apple together when, by all rights, the company should have fallen apart. It's a great logo, period, and the second-most-important logo Apple owns, after the Apple logo itself. Fucking around with it like this, making the right-side in-profile face a stick-on layer rather than a full half of the mark, is akin to Coca-Cola fucking around with the typeface for the word 'Cola' in its logo. Like, what are you doing? Why are you screwing with a perfect mark?" (Daring Fireball). Apple Loop brings you seven days worth of highlights every weekend here on Forbes. Don't forget to follow me so you don't miss any coverage in the future. Last week's Apple Loop can be read here, or this week's edition of Loop's sister column, Android Circuit, is also available on Forbes.
GSM Arena
a day ago
- Business
- GSM Arena
Apple announces App Store policy changes in the EU Comments
Apple loses in court, has to stop charging developers for payments outside of the App Store
Al Arabiya
a day ago
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Apple Revamps EU App Store Terms to Avert More Fines
Apple has revamped its app store policies in the European Union with hopes of fending off escalating fines under the 27-nation bloc's digital competition regulations. It's a last-minute bid by the iPhone maker to avoid further charges following a 500 million euro penalty in April. The bloc's executive Commission punished Apple for preventing app makers from pointing users to cheaper options outside its App Store and gave it a 60-day deadline, which expired Thursday, to avoid additional periodic fines. The changes made by Apple will make it easier for app makers to point users to better deals on digital products and options to pay for them outside of Apple's own App Store, including other websites, apps, or alternative app stores. The California company is also rolling out a two-tier system of fees to accommodate app developers that want to use alternative payments. 'The European Commission is requiring Apple to make a series of additional changes to the App Store,' Apple said in a statement. 'We disagree with this outcome and plan to appeal.' The commission noted Apple's announcement and will now assess these new business terms for DMA compliance, referring to the EU's Digital Markets Act. The rulebook was designed to rein in the power of big tech companies under threat of hefty fines worth up to 10 percent of a company's global annual revenue. Among the DMA's provisions are requirements that developers inform customers of cheaper purchasing options and direct them to those offers. Apple's restrictions preventing developers from steering users to outside payment channels had been fiercely opposed by some companies. It's the reason, for example, Spotify removed the in-app payment option to avoid having to pay a commission of up to 30 percent on digital subscriptions bought through iOS.
Mint
a day ago
- Business
- Mint
DeepSeek puts user data at risk: German watchdog asks Apple, Google to remove Chinese AI app from app stores
A top German privacy regulator has warned Apple Inc and Google's Android that Chinese AI service DeepSeek, which is available on their app stores, constitutes illegal content because it exposes users' data to Chinese authorities. The formal notification comes after DeepSeek ignored an official request in May to either pull its app from app stores in Germany or ensure safeguards are put in place when collecting local users' data and transmitting it to China, Berlin data protection commissioner Meike Kamp said in a statement on Friday. 'Chinese authorities have far-reaching rights to access personal data,' Kamp said. 'DeepSeek users don't have enforceable rights and effective legal remedies available to them in China, like they're guaranteed in the European Union,' reported Bloomberg. Hangzhou-based DeepSeek shocked the global tech industry in January with its R1 large language model, which the Chinese startup claimed could rival much larger US systems at a fraction of the cost. The Chinese AI service provider is competitive with industry leaders like OpenAI and Google. During its launch, DeepSeek had claimed that it took just two months and cost under $6 million to build an AI model using Nvidia's less-advanced H800 chips. After the Chinese app ignored requests to comply after several requests, the Berlin agency invoked a provision of the EU's Digital Services Act, which puts the responsibility on tech platforms like Apple and Google to take down illegal content on their platforms, the news agency said. They both must now swiftly review the notice and decide on how to comply, according to Kamp. While the regulator could have also fined DeepSeek, Kamp decided against it, because she wouldn't be able to enforce the penalty in China. The German move follows a similar step by Italy's privacy regulator in January, Bloomberg reported.
