Apple was slammed all year for sitting out the AI race

While rivals burn cash on AI infrastructure, Apple is up 16.7% YTD with free cash flow hitting a record $140B — the best performer in the Mag 7.

Author: Michael Kokin ·

I've written before that the company spends 50x less on AI than its competitors, yet steadily makes money on both AI and hardware. Looks like the market finally caught on. Stock at all-time highs, up 16.7% year-to-date — best performance in the Mag 7.

Competitors in the red

Microsoft is down 19.2% — worst result since 2022. Alphabet's free cash flow is buckling under data center costs. Apple's same metric is setting records: $140 billion, up 40% year-over-year.

A little AI drama

Last week Apple sued OpenAI, accusing former iPhone design VP Tan Tan — who became OpenAI's hardware director — of stealing secrets about unannounced devices.

What's next

A foldable iPhone is coming in September. Production plans have already been raised from 7–8 million to 10 million units.

Yesterday Apple pushed the iOS 27 public beta with the rebuilt Siri on Gemini. Expert reviews are, seemingly for the first time in Siri's history, unanimously positive.