On Monday, after Apple Inc.’s AAPL keynote at WWDC 2024, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives commended the tech giant for its latest venture into artificial intelligence (AI), calling it a game changer.
What Happened: Appearing on CNBC’s Closing Bell, Ives applauded Apple’s performance at the WWDC 2024 event saying that it lived up to the hype. He stated that the tech giant had excelled in all areas, especially in terms of the announcements related to ChatGPT-parent OpenAI and privacy.
“I think it was a home run. Ultimately, they delivered on every item they needed to in terms of OpenAI, in terms of the privacy, and really essentially what they’re doing is they’re laying out the stack for developers,” Ives said.
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Ives went on to underscore that Apple’s venture into AI signifies the onset of an AI-driven supercycle. He thinks that this move will revolutionize the services sector, as developers will need to go through Apple to access the data.
When asked why the tech giant isn’t getting credit for its AI monetization and rightly so, Ives noted that Apple has previously also been in a “show-me” situation.
He also highlighted the existing demand with 1.5 billion iPhones not having been upgraded in the past four years. “Pent-up demand is there. Now they’re laying the yellow brick road to monetization for AI.”
Ives added, “We could talk ‘Godfather of AI’ Jensen [Huang] Nvidia, Microsoft, and everything we see in this 1995 AI moment. But from a consumer perspective, 25% of the world, in our opinion, when they access AI it’s going to be to an Apple device.”
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Why It Matters: The new AI features introduced by Apple at WWDC 2024 have been seen as a potential growth driver by other industry experts as well. Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, has expressed his confidence in these features.
Munster said that they could encourage Apple's user base to upgrade their hardware more frequently, thereby allowing the tech giant to exceed estimates over the next few years. “I do believe this is the most significant announcement since the iPhone.”
Considering the new AI features would require users to have an iPhone 15 Pro or later, or an M1 chip or later for Mac and iPad, Munster stated that 85% of current devices will not be able to run these experiences.
Price Action: Apple shares ended Monday’s regular session down 1.91%, closing at $193.12, and continued to drop another 0.41% in after-hours trading, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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