Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook called out the company’s AI investments on Thursday, adding that the tech giant will show off the fruits of those moves in the year ahead.
The comment, which Cook made during Apple’s Q1 earnings call, is the clearest signal yet that the company doesn’t want to be perceived as missing out on Wall Street’s favorite tech trend.
“We’ve got some things that we are incredibly excited about that we will be [showing] later this year,” Cook said during the call.
"I think there is a huge opportunity for Apple with gen. AI and AI," he later added in response to an analyst's question.
Apple has been comparatively silent on generative AI save for a few sparing responses to analysts during the company’s earnings calls. All the while, Apple’s Big Tech rivals, including Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG, GOOGL), have continued to push out a variety of generative AI products.
Instead, Apple has largely focused on announcements related to machine learning improvements to the company’s iOS operating system in the form of features like updated autocorrect for the keyboard.
While Apple hasn’t jumped on the generative AI train like its brethren, the company has been working in the space for some time. The iPhone and Macs running on its M-series chips featured built-in neural engines long before the PC market, which only began boasting about AI PCs during CES last month.
But without a clear callout to the AI craze, Apple appeared to be behind the curve.
Analysts, meanwhile, have been hoping Apple would roll out some kind of AI product in 2024 as part of either an iOS update or alongside the iPhone 16. And while Cook didn’t specify when or how we would see the company’s AI investments show up, it’s a safe bet its most important device and operating system stand to benefit.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple began testing its own ChatGPT-style bot last year and is working to develop a version of Siri with generative AI functionality. AI, he says, will also find its way across iOS 18.
Cook’s reveal comes as Apple is launching its most ambitious product in years: the Vision Pro. A “spatial computer,” the headset, which starts at $3,499, will serve as a new computing platform for the company.
But the device’s sky-high price tag could hamper sales among average consumers, who could balk at spending so much on a completely new product category.
During the earnings call, Cook said Apple is seeing a good amount of interest in the Vision Pro from enterprise customers, including demos that take advantage of the headset’s capabilities.
Outside of that, Cook said that iPhone sales measured in constant currency in mainland China were only down single digits. The comment, which Cook made in response to an analyst question, comes as Apple saw Greater China revenue fall to $20.8 billion in the first quarter this year from $23.9 billion in Q1 2023.
Daniel Howley is the tech editor at Yahoo Finance. He's been covering the tech industry since 2011. You can follow him on Twitter @DanielHowley.
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