Apple quarterly earnings reports are not usually fodder for consumer interest. It’s a lot of sales numbers and explanations about why the falling dollar, rising yen, or China headwinds are impacting sales and earnings results.
Without the benefit of product introductions, it can be a snoozefest, but this time should be different, and mostly because of Apple’s not-so-great year.
- To recap, Apple had to delay the fully Apple Intelligence-upgraded Siri and admit that what they had still wasn’t up to Apple’s standards.
- The company appears to be falling behind in the critical AI race and has yet to offer a solid, competitive answer.
- It had to shuffle executives to try to get Siri and Apple Intelligence back on track.
- While we wait for a folding iPhone, Samsung just released what may be the industry’s best flexible phone.
- The Vision Pro remains an expensive niche product that has not inspired vast numbers of consumer customers.
- The spectre of tariffs is putting pressure on Apple and its partners and may soon force it to start charging more for tech gear.
- The company has been pressured by the Trump administration to start building iPhones in the US.
Put simply, Apple has a lot of explaining to do. So while Apple CFO Kevan Parekh and CEO Tim Cook will spend the first half of the earnings call that is set for Thursday, July 31 at 5PM ET (2PM PT / 10PM BST), droning through profits, operating expenses, capital, and even stock splits, it’s the open call with analysts that should be most illuminating, important, and, possibly, even entertaining part of the event.
Analysts should be quizzing Cook and company on these juicy topics:
AI and Apple Intelligence
As I noted above, Apple has fallen far behind in the all-important AI race, and promises that the updated Siri will show up “in the coming year” are less than comforting, especially since that might be next year.
Analysts will rightly demand specifics. And while I do not expect Cook to get pinned down, he might offer some assurance that a Siri that can compete with, say, Gemini or ChatGPT, will arrive by the end of this year, as opposed to slipping into 2026.
I would love to see analysts press Cook on Apple’s overall AI strategy, one that I believe is flawed for being too cautious. The competition is flying down AI Highway with abandon, and with Superintelligence or General Artificial Intelligence on the horizon, Apple cannot afford to take the slow approach. Any more delays and Apple will lose more than just this AI race.
New Products
During every earnings call, analysts make desperate attempts to get Cook to mention upcoming products. He never does, but Cook will talk vaguely about “the best lineup ever” of upcoming technologies. His enthusiasm can often speak volumes about what to expect and if any of it will move the needle.
Vision Pro pump up
Even though Vision Pro fails to dazzle on the sales side, it remains the most powerful and perhaps the best consumer technology Apple has ever produced. I expect Cook to highlight consumer and enterprise interest, as well as recent content successes, such as the Bono Documentary.
It’s the analysts’ job, though, to press Cook here and see if they can get him to admit that Vision Pro will never be a consumer product, at least not at its current price.
AR embrace (iGlasses, anyone?)
A good segue here would be a return for Cook to mentions of an AR future. Apple’s wearable game cannot remain confined to watches and earbuds, not when Meta is making hay with all those Meta Smart Glasses from Ray-Ban and Oakley.
If we only consider AR glasses, Apple still has some time since Google, Samsung, and Meta are all still trying to figure out how to make high-quality lenses that do not need the bulk of larger frames to support them.
Could analysts goad Cook into mentioning future “iGlasses”?
Airy or bendy phone possibilities
Most people expect Apple to deliver its thinnest iPhone ever this September in the form of an iPhone 17 Air. Cook will not name this product, but he could mention “new form factors,” which could be referring to the thinner Air and, maybe, a folding iPhone.
In both areas, though, Apple is behind Samsung, which now has the best and thinnest foldable design in the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and an admirably thin, if uninspiring, Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge.
Analysts will want at least a hint that Apple has an answer for all this.
Tariffs and US-based manufacturing
Cook will not want to talk about US-based manufacturing, tariffs, or the guy who calls him a friend, President Trump. But analysts will ask and press for projections on how tariffs might impact iPhone and other Apple gadget pricing.
Here, I expect Cook to offer at least some color, if not concrete projections. He’ll talk again about how Apple is prepared for supply chain fluctuations, which include component pricing pressure. He will assure everyone that Apple has a plan for this uncertain future.
Cook might remind people about how Apple has already diversified manufacturing so that it’s not all in China and point to the $500 billion investment in the US, which most recently has included manufacturing training programs for upcoming businesspeople and their businesses.
I don’t know if that will satisfy everyone, especially not Trump, who has consistently demanded that Apple build the iPhone in the US.
At least Cook will get to tout the sea changes coming to all of Apple’s major platforms and the impact of Liquid Glass on, for instance, the iPhone. iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26 are big updates and ones that, whether or not people love them, do promise to change how they use these platforms.
Overall, this could be one very exciting and even contentious earnings report, and I’ll have my popcorn ready.
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