Apple is currently facing challenges in integrating artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities into its product lineup. This struggle has sparked a wave of criticism directed at the company which is widely perceived as working from behind in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
The pressure is on for Apple to keep pace with competitors who are aggressively pushing AI-driven functionalities, from enhanced virtual assistants that have progressed well beyond the company’s criminally-neglected Short Bus Siri™ to smarter predictive systems, all of which are becoming table stakes in the premium device market.
Despite these hurdles, Daniel Ives, a prominent analyst from Wedbush Securities, offers a perspective that might give pause to jittery shareholders. Ives suggests that investors who are quick to offload Apple stock amid this criticism could find themselves rueing their decision down the line. Ives says that Apple’s long-term potential remains intact and, indeed, robust. While the company may be grappling with AI implementation now, Ives believes its deep resources, loyal customer base, and knack for turning challenges into opportunities could ultimately reward patient investors. In his view, selling the stock at this juncture might mean missing out on significant gains as Apple works through its current growing pains and emerges stronger on the other side.
Earlier this month, Apple delayed promised AI updates to Siri, its digital assistant, saying it expects to roll “them out in the coming year.” The company had been expected to roll out the new and improved voice assistant in April or May alongside the release of the iOS 18.4 software update.
That has caused plenty of dismay on Wall Street and elsewhere. Analysts at Citi and Morgan Stanley lowered their expectations for iPhone sales this year, expecting either no or minimal growth from around 230 million in 2024.
However, Wedbush’s Ives sees Apple stock as discounted, after its 16% slide so far in 2025 through Thursday’s close.
“While we get the disappointment from investors and this was not an ideal rollout for Apple Intelligence, we believe this selloff is way overdone,” wrote Ives in a research note.He kept an Outperform rating and $325 target price on the stock…
Ives estimates that in a worst-case scenario the AI delays for Apple will push 10 million iPhone shipments to the next fiscal year, starting in October. He still expects Apple to sell roughly 225 million to 230 million iPhones in its current fiscal year, rising to between 245 million and 250 million in its fiscal year 2026.
MacDailyNews Take: We don’t sell AAPL during dips, especially overreactive ones (gifts), we accumulate.
But, that’s just us. We like making money, not losing it.
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
