Apple: Investors await AI clarity ahead of June's WWDC event
Apple's (AAPL) stock is down year-to-date in 2024 ahead of the company's much-anticipated Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Constellation Research Founder and Principal Analyst R "Ray" Wang joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss what investors are expected to hear from the tech giant at its annual event.
Wang notes that with Apple's extensive involvement in artificial intelligence, investors are eager to see how the company plans to incorporate AI into iPhones, stating, "it hasn't always been explicit." He mentions that with upcoming iOS upgrades across Apple's product lines, investors will be looking to understand how AI will "bring Apple devices to life."
Wang emphasizes the importance of collaborations, suggesting that a potential partnership with Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) could be in the works. He believes it's crucial for Apple to demonstrate that "they are part of that ecosystem." Wang views this potential deal as "one step towards the integration" of AI more prominently at Apple. However, he believes that as time goes on, investors will see "more partnerships emerge" as AI integration develops further.
For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.
Editor's note: This article was written by Angel Smith
Video Transcript
AKIKO FUJITA: Apple has just announced it will be holding its Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10. Wall Street will be watching very closely as the Mag Seven tech giant sets out its latest developments in devices, most importantly listening out for any signs of its much promised AI strategy. Let's bring in our friend of the show, Ray Wang, an avid Apple stock watcher.
Ray, I was just checking here. Apple stock down about 11.5% year to date, hasn't been a great start to the year. What are we expecting? What could be a potential catalyst for the stock coming out of this?
R "RAY" WANG: I think the big question is, Apple has done so much in AI, what are they going to publicly talk about, and sell, and show, and just help developers see what they can do with AI inside the devices? It hasn't always been explicit. It's always been ambient happening in the background.
And I think people are trying-- I mean, everyone watching is trying to figure out, hey what's going to happen in iOS 18, iPad OS 18, tvOS 18, Mac OS 15, watchOS 11? And that's really where the magic happens for Apple. It's like how the devices come to life.
And I think how the devices come to life with AI is going to be a big area for a lot of investors to watch, as well as for a lot of Apple fans. I mean, there's 28, 30 million folks that actually watched the show last year remotely. And about a couple thousand-- I think it's like 5,000, 6,000 attend in person.
JOSH LIPTON: Ray, what did you think of those reports we saw that Apple eyeing Google Gemini for future iPhones? What did you make of that?
R "RAY" WANG: Yeah, I think it's really important, right? There's a lot of things where they can actually have collaborations. It could be with Google.
It could be with Microsoft. It could be the other folks. And I think it's important to show that Apple's part of that ecosystem across the board. And I also hope that the important piece is that Apple doesn't get distracted by this DOJ lawsuit.
AKIKO FUJITA: Not distracted by the DOJ lawsuit, Ray, that's something that's likely to drag on for some time. But on that specific point about Gemini, I mean, what was your read on those reports that came out? Is it about Apple being a little further behind at least internally than what has been publicly reported or is this just one step that Apple already had in place to get to ultimately what they are working on internally, integrating that into their product?
R "RAY" WANG: I think it's one step in towards integration into the product. I believe that those Google discussions have been happening for quite some time. And I think there's other discussions with other software vendors in terms of actually leveraging their capabilities. So whether it's something in collaboration, or it's something in video, or something that's going to be in terms of email, or something that's in other arts around the work and the enterprise environment, I think you'll see some of those partnerships emerge.
