Asked whether Apple is right to stay out of the AI capex race after its first earnings under a new CEO, McGee says the answer depends entirely on how you feel about AI.
…of course, we are leading into the most important quarter for the year. So it could be a major problem, but honestly, it might just be basically over with. They could have very well fixed the supplier issue at this point. And at the end of the day, maybe it's only a few dozen units and we move on.
…very directly. What do you make of that decision at this point? I mean, we know how much money all these other guys are spending on AI, hundreds of billions of dollars by Meta, Google, Microsoft, all of these players. Apple's not spending seemingly anything on CapEx. Is that the right move? You
know, when markets are bullish on AI, then Apple looks like it's this old-timer who sort of can't keep up with the times. And when markets are bearish on AI, then Apple sort of plays the safety trade and it looks genius. And of course, right now, the markets are in a bit of a tailspin due to all the spending and CapEx on AI. So Apple's looking good. So, I mean, this was great timing for John Turnus' first interview for earnings. But you're right. Yeah, we learned very little. I mean, that's very typical Apple. You know, if you learn something about John Turnas on the earnings call, it's that it's Tim Cook 2.0 in terms of will we actually hear anything interesting? I mean, very, very tame in terms of what he was actually saying on the earnings call and the other executives as well. So, you know, it's going to be difficult to know because I guess if you are AGI-pilled, then it's insane that the world's most iconic company really isn't playing the game of investing loads of money into AI. But if you're not AGI-pilled, then it's a genius move to sort of sit back and let people subscribe on their Apple hardware. You know, where Apple's actually doing quite well is with the Mac…
One of my struggles with Apple, I mean, it's done incredibly well this year. It's up more than 20% year to date. It's crushing all of the other big tech names. It's also very expensive. It's trading at 36 times forward earnings, which is by far the most expensive of the big tech companies, despite…
It's funny. I think journalists have been asking Apple this question since around 2012. And I think they've basically been wrong the whole time. I mean, Apple sort of realizes that the six-inch rectangle in everyone's pocket that they stare at for four to six hours per day is the thing. There is no…
Patrick McGee is an award-winning journalist and author of Apple in China. Patrick, we appreciate your time. Thanks, Ed. We're recording this episode Tuesday evening. So that is before the midterm election results are out. Obviously, this episode airs on Wednesday. So unfortunately, we will not…