Latest news with #VisionPro
Bloomberg
3 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Apple Should Sell a Smart Ring to Expand Its Fitness Tracker Lineup
Apple should seriously consider developing a smart ring to give its fitness-tracking wearables push new momentum and widen its market. Also: The company hints at a tethered Vision Pro, and there are new beta versions of iOS 26 and other operating systems. Last week in Power On: Apple needs to make a major acquisition to end its artificial intelligence malaise.
Yahoo
2 days 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
CNET
4 days ago
- CNET
iOS 18 vs. iOS 26: Learn Exactly How Liquid Glass Will Make Your iPhone Look Different
The new Liquid Glass design language -- inspired by VisionOS on the Vision Pro headset -- is coming for all of your Apple devices. iPhone owners can either install the developer beta now or wait until the fall to see what's in store. Obviously, it looks good, but it provides some meaningful updates to what you have on your iPhone right now that will soon make it feel even better to use, thanks to its updated responsiveness. This upgrade from iOS 18 actually isn't as dramatic as it might initially seem. Visually, at least. (Right, Apple is skipping 19 and the other intervening numbers.) Think of it as touch-up rather than reconstructive surgery, with iOS 26's other, more mundane features tucked underneath. Liquid Glass on the home screen is a fairly minimal change, which is a good thing. We're only at the first developer beta of the new OS and design, though, and Apple will undoubtedly make tweaks until its final release. Below, we'll take a closer look at both iOS 26 and iOS 18 to see what's different between the two. For more, here's why you might want to hold off installing the iOS 26 developer beta. Home screen Apple kept the new Liquid Glass minimal on the home screen, with only minor changes to the default home screen appearance versus iOS 18's. Apple/Screenshot by Jeff Carlson Looking at the home screens, the primary difference you'll find is that in iOS 26 the background of the dock and the search option that sits in between the dock and the home screen icons are more transparent and have a sheen to the edges, whereas in iOS 18, these are slightly darker. Other smaller changes are that the icons on iOS 26 look slightly larger, and some app icons seem to have been more influenced by the redesign than others, most notably (from the screenshots) Settings, Camera and Mail. For Liquid Glass to really shine on the home screen, you'll want to opt for the "All Clear" mode, which will create the most dramatic change to your icons and widgets. Going this route could potentially introduce some viewability issues, but the "reduce transparency" setting remedies this quite well. Control Center Apple/Screenshot by Jeff Carlson Things here are largely unchanged. Outside of the new glassy look in iOS 26, the 1x2 and 2x1 controls are more rounded than that of iOS 18. Lock screen Apple/Screenshot by Jeff Carlson It's easy to see the differences that Liquid Glass brings to the lock screen of the iPhone. The digital clock in iOS 26 dynamically resizes depending on the wallpaper and the number of notifications you have at any given moment, which is pretty cool. The clock itself on iOS 18 can be changed, but it won't change in size in response to content displayed on the lock screen. The background on notifications is clearly different between the two OS versions, with iOS 18 providing more opacity and a black text versus iOS 26's near-transparent background on white text. The controls at the bottom in iOS 26 also appear more like physical buttons with depth and more of a see-through background. The new unlock effect in iOS 26 is that the motion of unlocking your iPhone will appear as though you're lifting a sheet of glass, highlighted by a shiny edge to give it form when you begin to slide your finger up. Menus and dynamic tab bars iOS 26's new Dynamic Tab gives you a cleaner look and more space to view your content. Apple/Screenshot by Jeff Carlson A new addition in iOS 26 is the introduction of dynamic tab bars in apps that will change depending on whether you're scrolling or trying to perform a specific action. Apple says this will create a more intuitive experience while freeing up space for your content. If you were to replace the glass effect with heavily saturated colors, no one would blame you for mistaking this new tab bar with what Google's doing in Android 16 in some of its apps -- they look a lot alike. But compared to iOS 18, this new dynamic tab bar should not only reduce sifting through multiple menus, but it looks pretty good in the process. iOS 26 will dynamically adapt to light and dark backgrounds In iOS 26, the color of menu icons and icon text will adapt depending on the background. Apple/GIF by CNET While it's harder to compare Liquid Glass to iOS 18 here, an upcoming feature is that buttons and menus will adapt depending on the content's background color. For instance, when you're scrolling through an app with a light background, the floating menu options will appear with black text for easier viewing and will automatically change to white upon scrolling to a dark background. in iOS 18, some apps aspects of the user interface would appear darker depending on the color of the background, but less so than how Liquid Glass handles it now. CNET/ Screenshots by Jeff Carlson iOS has had this type of feature show up in a less dramatic fashion before, as you can tell from the photos app screenshots above. Comparing these to what's on the horizon, it's hard not to get excited about the small tweaks Liquid Glass has in store, too. Those are just a few of our initial findings, and we'll likely add more once we surface them. If you want more about iOS 26, check out three upcoming features that are a bigger deal than Liquid Glass.
Phone Arena
4 days ago
- Business
- Phone Arena
Samsung is taking a more realistic approach to VR than Apple did
Samsung will most likely unveil its upcoming XR ( Extended Reality ) headset — named Project Moohan — on September 29 this year. Unlike Apple's approach for the Apple Vision Pro last year, however, Samsung is reportedly taking a much more realistic approach with its foray back into XR. According to a recent report ( translated source ), Samsung is only considering 100,000 units for the headset's initial launch. To put that into perspective, even the upcoming Galaxy G Fold — Samsung's tri-foldable phone — will have at least 200,000 units made for its own limited release. This is obviously due to the fact that the XR industry still remains a niche market. Furthermore, according to all of the news that has come in about the hardware powering it, Project Moohan will likely be quite expensive. It might not be as expensive as the Vision Pro, which was $3,499 at launch, but it won't be as affordable as the Meta Quest 3 or Quest 3S either. Project Moohan seen at Galaxy Unpacked. | Image credit — PhoneArena Apple was convinced that the Vision Pro would sell out everywhere. Initially, the company thought that they would have sold a million units by the end of 2024. Now, in the middle of 2025, rough estimates point to around half a million headsets having been sold. Enterprise interest in the Vision Pro, something that Apple was heavily banking on, also dwindled soon after release. Samsung has already lowered sales expectations for the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 due to the foldable industry's current state. The company has been smart enough to apply that same logic to Project Moohan. Despite that, and that fact that Project Moohan will only come out in Korea at first, I think that Samsung's headset has a lot of potential. If the company is able to provide an experience comparable to the Vision Pro at a lower cost, I can see the headset selling a lot better than its rival. And, obviously, it should come with support for VR games. That was a mistake that Apple made with its headset. Naturally, as it becomes cheaper to manufacture, we'll see more affordable successors pop up in the coming years. But whether it will be able to compete against the smart AR glasses that Meta and Apple are working on remains to be seen. Secure your connection now at a bargain price! We may earn a commission if you make a purchase Check Out The Offer
Bloomberg
22-06-2025
- Automotive
- Bloomberg
Apple Will Need to Leave Its M&A Comfort Zone to Succeed in AI
By Apple will need to make the biggest acquisition in its history to put an end to its artificial intelligence debacle. Also: Meta rolls out new Oakley smart glasses; Honor prepares a new ultrathin foldable phone; and Apple's annual back-to-school deal gets underway. Last week in Power On: Apple's upgrades to CarPlay, the iPad and Vision Pro outshine its new Liquid Glass interface.
