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Take Apple: The company assembled $22 billion worth of iPhones in India over the past year, a nearly 60% YoY increase, per Bloomberg. While Apple and its suppliers continue shifting production away from China, they鈥檝e seen potential tariffs on Indian-assembled iPhones swing from 26% to 10% to 0% in just a week.

On today鈥檚 podcast episode, we discuss what to make of former Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive working on a new AI device, what an AI model with 鈥渞easoning abilities鈥� can actually do, and whether Ilya Sutskever鈥檚 new AI startup can create safe superintelligence. Join host Marcus Johnson, along with analysts Jacob Bourne and Grace Harmon, for the conversation.

In 2022, Google paid Apple $22 billion to be the default search engine in Safari. But Google is being challenged on multiple fronts for monopolistic practices. A federal judge ruled last week that Google operates an ad tech monopoly. In a separate case in August 2024, a judge ruled that the Big Tech company has an online search monopoly.

Apple NFC opens doors for wallet competition. Apple iPhone users can now pick their default contactless app by clicking the phone鈥檚 side button. Apple has agreed to give US wallets and payment apps access to the iPhone鈥檚 near-field communication (NFC) technology鈥攆or a fee.

Companies like Microsoft, Apple, and Meta are integrating AI across their ecosystems. Google is tapping its cloud services user base to dominate mainstream AI, accelerating adoption.

Apple sells device location information for geographically targeted ads in the App Store and Apple News. Our take: Srinivas proposes that users trade personal data for better browsing and more personal ads. While that could turn off privacy-conscious consumers, the CEO鈥檚 honesty could appeal to some people.

Consumer trust could be damaged if Apple promoted those features to help sell its new lineup while knowing it wouldn鈥檛 be able to deliver. Amazon didn鈥檛 tie Alexa+ to a device launch as Apple did, so a lawsuit is less likely.

Providers can now access Apple iOS, which holds the other half of the market. Predictions. A major mobile wallet will pilot an Apple NFC partnership in 2025. Block is a likely candidate. Its wildly successful Cash Card鈥攗sed by 42.1% of Cash App鈥檚 57 million active users鈥攃an help it earn interchange revenues that would balance access fees paid to Apple.

Apple, Google, and Meta pull services, isolating Russians and shrinking revenue opportunities for creators and advertisers.

Samsung鈥檚 integration of Perplexity鈥檚 AI search gives it an advantage as Google struggles to differentiate its AI-powered search and Apple falls behind in delivering advanced iPhone AI features. Shipping new smartphones with AI search features from a known provider could drive upgrade cycles for users interested in getting on-device AI without the attached subscription cost.

Just 8% of digital audio listeners use Amazon Music most often, per SiriusXM Media, trailing Spotify (34%), YouTube Music (21%), Apple Music (13%), and Pandora (13%). Listeners across age groups spend an average of 49.7 hours per month on Spotify, compared with 0.8 hours a month on Amazon Music, per Comscore.

Apple unveils new Apple Watch feature that detects sleep apnea: The timing of the feature鈥檚 unveiling could be the spark Apple needs to reignite its stagnating device business.

Why this matters: This is the first time PayPal has enabled NFC payments through its digital wallet after Apple opened up the tech to developers in Europe, the US, and select other markets in response to antitrust concerns from regulators. At the time, we predicted PayPal would start offering contactless payments now that it could do so across mobile operating systems.

The absence of Apple Intelligence at launch and limited language support may hinder consumer interest and slow early adoption.

Apple News+ has low engagement and few monthly active users, and the division was hit by layoffs last year, a rare occurrence for Apple. Our take: Apple TV+ may be a brand loyalty tool rather than a profits driver.

Key Stat: US adults spend more than quadruple the amount of time with Spotify that they do with Amazon Music and Apple Music combined (32.3 hours a month versus 4.4). Executive Summary. The number of monthly digital audio listeners has steadily increased over the past decade.

But its broader ambition is to 鈥渂uild the Apple stores of apparel,鈥� according to Grede鈥攚hich means prioritizing locations on high-end, high-trafficked corridors like New York City鈥檚 Fifth Avenue and London鈥檚 Regent Street, grade-A malls, and outdoor shopping centers.

Apple is revamping iOS and is expected to ship thinner iPhone Pros as well as its first dual-screen foldable by next year. Nothing鈥檚 CMF Phone 2 is a modular smartphone with accessories users can add on as needed.

Apple still plans to develop smart glasses eventually, but its current focus on the Vision Pro headset may give competitors a chance to gain ground. EssilorLuxottica, which makes Meta鈥檚 Ray-Ban line, is already expanding production capacity for smart glasses and looking for new brand partnerships.

The update should help consumers feel safer using the P2P app, which may help boost Apple Cash adoption

Zooming out: We forecast that nearly one-quarter (24.2%) of US consumers, or 83.2 million people, use a smart wearable that monitors or measures health and fitness activities such as an Apple Watch, Fitbit, or Oura Ring. We project modest growth in wearable user penetration through 2028.

Apple is caught in the fallout from China鈥檚 new tariffs, even as it shifts production to India and Vietnam鈥攃ountries already hit by new Trump tariffs of 27% and 46%, respectively. 25% of goods sold on Amazon come from China, per The Economic Times, Import cost increases could disrupt their model for affordable and easily accessible goods.