Locator: 49461APPLE.
Updates
October 21, 2025: Wedbush is generally more exuberant about Apple than any other analyst.
Original Post
October 16, 2025
AI prompt:
On another note, still with regard to Apple.
I completely agree with your assessment regarding Apple's geopolitical risks due to supply chain issues. Apple had to have known that this headline story -- more investment in China -- would cause alarm for investors and indeed, AAPL is one of the few laggards in the market (again) today.
Tim Cook cannot afford to miss earnings estimates to be released October 30, 2025.
Putting all this together suggests the following: short term, Tim Cook feels comfortable that AAPL will meet / beat earnings estimates and was able to take a chance on going to China now, despite risks to share price between now and October 30.
Short term to medium term: Apple is having a challenging time keeping up with iPhone 17 demand and needs Chinese help. In addition, China is a huge market for Apple, and Tim Cook wanted to thank China for approving sales of the iPhone Air this past week.
Longer term, Tim Cook has an intuitive feeling with regard to Apple's relationship with the White House. One needs to remember that AAPL was at the big White House party last night; AMD, Nvidia, Intel, TSMC were not. Thoughts?
October 18, 2025
AI prompt:
Apple iPhone Air. Just received regulatory approval to sell in China. Lots of stories at odds with each other. Some say that the iPhone Air is not doing all that well in the US and Europe, but yet the iPhone Air sold out in China in hours. What's our assessment of how the iPhone Air is doing? Or does it really matter, since it's a huge pie with iPhone Air, iPhone 17, Pro, and Pro Max all occupying a quarter of the large pie?
ChatGPT: again, a long reply. Requested a one-page PDF. Here it is:
This is very, very interesting. It leads to another AI prompt:
This is very, very interesting. In the big scheme of things, the Apple iPhone Air did at least two things for Apple: the Air inserted itself into a new niche among cellphones -- extreme thinness -- a must-have fashion statement -- wards off other competitors beating them to that niche; and, second, the Air was a huge marketing "tool." "Everyone" was talking about the Air even if they didn't end up buying it. Free advertising, as it were (just as the ORANGE iPhone did the same thing). I can think of other reasons for the Air but those two seem to loom large in my rear view mirror.
A long reply, but a nice brief summarizing PDF:
