Shares of Apple (AAPL) are trading higher after Bank of America reiterated it as its top pick, maintaining its Buy rating and $230 price target. Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley explains what to expect from the company’s upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference.
Howley notes that investors are interested in learning more about Apple’s AI initiatives because the company came relatively late to the AI race. However, Howley explains that the tech giant is likely taking its time with its AI products, as companies like Google are currently dealing with the unintended consequences of AI search engines.
“Apple is all about fit and finish. It’s all about delivering a product that people love, and if they get it wrong, I think that would be a bigger problem than having nothing at all,” Howley says.
For more expert insights and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Morning Brief.
Video transcription
Good vibes this morning for Apple Bank of America reiterated the company as a top pick, maintaining a Buy rating and $230 price target on the stock. B of A analysts are optimistic about the adoption of AI-enabled phones.
They arrive.
Dan Dan Yahoo finance, Dan Halley is here to tell me whether or not these AI-enabled phones will happen.
Are they, I think they’re calling them on the phone.
Um, it’s uh yeah, on the phone, you need to do a quote workshop.
Yeah.
Um, but I mean, look, this is something that Apple has clearly had to work on.
Um, they don’t currently have any truly generative AI capabilities that do anything.
Um, they’ve been teasing this for a while.
Tim Cook teased him during various earnings calls simply because they were left in the dust.
Microsoft has generative AI Google has generative AI Meta uh Amazon all these companies are doing it.
Uh, success, floods here and there.
Um, but Apple has been the one that’s been kept out of the picture and so this is seen by many analysts as potentially sort of a new driver for smartphone sales.
Now, do I feel this way?
No, no, well, I don’t, I, I, unless they show something at WW DC that looks like software and that I think is going to get people excited, then it won’t do anything good.
People care about the camera, screen and battery.
Beyond that, there must be some amazing software features.
Nobody’s ever like that, man.
did you receive this Siri update?
Have you ever heard anyone say that?
No, even when Siri came out, people were cool.
I’m sorry I’m sorry.
Yeah, I just activated everyone’s phone.
Um But II, I think if they can do something with the software that actually excites people, then that will be a driver.
Now, what does that look like?
I don’t know.
That’s right, because Samsung and Google already have generative AI capabilities on their own phones and that’s not really a reason for people to want to buy them, right?
It’s more about the physical capabilities that phones offer.
So I don’t necessarily know if it will be the engine that everyone is hoping for.
Um, unless that’s actually something Apple can say.
Look at how amazing it is compared to the rest of what’s out there, it’s going to make people want to buy.
So Dan, how important is the Worldwide Developers Conference that’s happening next month, just in terms of disappointment, what do you think the impact is, or I guess the analysts are saying the impact could potentially be here about Apple and the demand for their phones, at least in the short term?
Well, I think it’s really kind of setting up stakes for the future of Apple and their software just because look, they’re already behind on this technology.
That changes things, right?
Microsoft has shown with its laptops that these are interesting technologies that can do a lot, right?
They have some new features called things like reminder, um, that can kind of recover everything that you’ve done on your phone in the past, uh you know, a few years, um, if you’ve changed the settings, n ‘is this not ?
Um, they do cool and interesting things.
Um, Apple needs to offer this on everything, not just the iPhone.
So if they don’t, if they disappoint, I don’t think it’s going to make people not buy an iPhone.
Um But I, I think it’s going to leave Wall Street and, and, and the analysts are saying, well, what gives is that Apple has lost its edge and I think that’s more like what would happen , is that it’s the right way and go Let’s go back to what you just said a minute ago, which is that Apple is considered to be perhaps lagging behind when it comes to the adoption of AI in the AI race right now.
Is this the right way to view Apple at this point?
And I guess that’s a little surprising given that you’ve been covering the company for so long and it’s normally at the forefront when it comes to technological advancements and adoption.
Yeah, I think, I think it’s, I think when it comes to where they should be, at least having something to preview, right?
They’re, they’re late, right?
But if you look at something like uh uh meta, they release these technologies as open source.
So it’s not really found in too many products.
It’s more on the advertising side.
Um, you know, Amazon, obviously, it’s more about their uh Rufus uh AI assistant which is useful but has its problems.
Um, Google launched and I’m telling you to eat rocks, right?
So Apple doesn’t want to do things correctly.
I think this would be a bigger problem for Apple and the perception of Apple than for something like Google.
This is now a huge problem for Google because they are supposed to be the trusted source online.
You don’t say let me Google it real quick because you don’t trust them, you do it because you trust them.
So this is a huge problem for Google.
Apple is all about fit and finish.
It’s all about offering a product that people love and if they offered it, I think that would be a bigger deal than having nothing at all.
No one should be surprised that artificial intelligence tells humans to eat rocks.
Yeah.
I mean, look, eat rocks, eat dough.
It’s absolutely fine.
Um, and, uh, yeah, I mean, look, it’s not, uh, like you’re going to Google something important, you know?
So, well, we’ll just leave it at that.
Mention some great settings you have with us here this morning.