While Apple Inc. AAPL faces scrutiny over delays in rolling out key Apple Intelligence and Siri features, CEO Tim Cook says its artificial intelligence-powered iPhones are already giving the company a noticeable sales edge.
What Happened: On Thursday, during Apple’s second-quarter earnings call, JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee asked Cook whether the rollout of Apple Intelligence—Apple’s suite of on-device AI features—continues to positively influence iPhone 16 sales, especially amid delays in personalized Siri updates.
“During the March [quarter], we saw that in markets where we had rolled out Apple Intelligence, the year-over-year performance on the iPhone 16 family was stronger than those where Apple Intelligence was not available,” Cook said.
He added that many additional languages were added in April, which falls into the current third quarter. “A lot of the languages that I think you’re referring to rolled out in April, and so they actually rolled out in third quarter,” he noted, implying the full impact of the broader AI rollout is still to come.
Why It’s Important: In March, it was reported that Apple is grappling with internal tensions as it works to address significant AI shortcomings in Siri, with a senior executive reportedly describing the delays as ugly and embarrassing after the company promoted features that weren’t yet fully developed.
Last month, it was reported that Apple’s AI team, once led cohesively by John Giannandrea, is reportedly being split up amid concerns over underwhelming performance.
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This came after reports surfaced that Apple has reassigned Mike Rockwell, the executive responsible for the Vision Pro headset, to lead Siri, shifting oversight of the virtual assistant away from AI chief Giannandrea.
Apple reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $95.36 billion, surpassing Wall Street expectations of $94.53 billion. The company also delivered earnings of $1.65 per share, edging past the consensus estimate of $1.63.
iPhone revenue came in at $46.84 billion, up from $45.96 billion in the same quarter last year.
Price Action: Apple shares rose 0.39% during regular trading on Thursday but fell 2.95% in pre-market trading on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Benzinga Edge’s Stock Rankings give Apple a growth score of 44.64% and a momentum score of 44.65%. Click here to see how it compares to other top tech stocks.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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