Apple heads into annual showcase reeling from AI missteps, tech upheaval and Trump's trade war
After stumbling out of the starting gate in Big Tech's pivotal race to capitalize on artificial intelligence, Apple will try to regain its footing Monday at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference.
The presummer rite, which attracts thousands of developers to Apple's Silicon Valley headquarters, is expected to be more subdued than the feverish anticipation that surrounded the event during the previous two years.
In 2023, Apple unveiled a mixed-reality headset that has been little more than a niche product, and last year WWDC trumpeted its first major foray into the AI craze with an array of new features highlighted by the promise of a smarter and more versatile version of its virtual assistant, Siri.
But heading into this year's showcase, Apple faces nagging questions about whether the nearly 50-year-old company has lost some of the mystique and innovative drive that turned it into a tech trendsetter. Instead of making a big splash as it did with the Vision Pro headset, Apple this year is expected to focus on an overhaul of its software that may include a new, more tactile look for the iPhone's native apps and a new nomenclature for identifying its operating system updates.
Even though it might look like Apple is becoming a technological laggard, Forrester Research analyst Thomas Husson contends the company still has ample time to catch up in an AI race that's 'more of a marathon, than a sprint. It will force Apple to evolve its operating systems.'
If reports about its iOS naming scheme pan out, Apple will switch to a method that automakers have used to telegraph their latest car models by linking them to the year after they first arrive at dealerships. That would mean the next version of the iPhone operating system due out this autumn will be known as iOS 26 instead of iOS 19 — as it would be under the current sequential naming approach.
Whatever it's named, the next iOS will likely be released as a free update in September, around the same time as the next iPhone models if Apple follows its usual road map.
Meanwhile, Apple's references to AI may be less frequent than last year when the technology was the main attraction.
While some of the new AI tricks compatible with the latest iPhones began rolling out late last year as part of free software updates, Apple still hasn't been able to soup up Siri in the ways that it touted at last year's conference. The delays became so glaring that a chastened Apple retreated from promoting Siri in its AI marketing campaigns earlier this year.
'It's just taking a bit longer than we thought,' Apple CEO Tim Cook told analysts last month when asked about the company's headaches with Siri. 'But we are making progress, and we're extremely excited to get the more personal Siri features out there.'
While Apple has been struggling to make AI that meets its standards, the gap separating it from other tech powerhouses is widening. Google keeps packing more AI into its Pixel smartphone lineup while introducing more of the technology into its search engine to dramatically change the way it works. Samsung, Apple's biggest smartphone rival, is also leaning heavily into AI. Meanwhile, ChatGPT recently struck a deal that will bring former Apple design guru Jony Ive into the fold to work on a new device expected to compete against the iPhone.
'While much of WWDC will be about what the next great thing is for the iPhone, the unspoken question is: What's the next great thing after the iPhone?' said Dipanjan Chatterjee, another analyst for Forrester Research.
Besides facing innovation challenges, Apple also faces regulatory threats that could siphon away billions of dollars in revenue that help finance its research and development. A federal judge is currently weighing whether proposed countermeasures to Google's illegal monopoly in search should include a ban on long-running deals worth $20 billion annually to Apple while another federal judge recently banned the company from collecting commission on in-app transactions processed outside its once-exclusive payment system.
On top of all that, Apple has been caught in the cross-hairs of President Donald Trump's trade war with China, a key manufacturing hub for the Cupertino, California, company. Cook successfully persuaded Trump to exempt the iPhone from tariffs during the president's first administration, but he has had less success during Trump's second term, which seems more determined to prod Apple to make its products in the U.S..
'The trade war and uncertainty linked to the tariff policy is of much more concern today for Apple's business than the perception that Apple is lagging behind on AI innovation,' Husson said.
The multi-dimensional gauntlet facing Apple is spooking investors, causing the company's stock price to plunge by nearly 20% so far this year — a decline that has erased $750 billion in shareholder wealth. After beginning the year as the most valuable company in the world, Apple now ranks third behind longtime rival Microsoft, another AI leader, and AI chipmaker Nvidia.
Michael Liedtke, The Associated Press
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Globe and Mail
40 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Wisr AI Systems Inc. Accelerates Global Business Development at Web Summit Vancouver, InfoSec Europe, and VivaTech Paris
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 22, 2025) - Wisr AI Systems Inc. (CSE: WISR) (" Wisr AI" or the " Company"), a leading provider of AI-driven cyber and third-party risk intelligence, is pleased to announce the successful execution of several strategic business development initiatives across recent key global technology conferences, including Web Summit Vancouver, InfoSec Europe in London, and VivaTech Paris. Web Summit Vancouver (May 27-30, 2025) Wisr AI participated as part of the official AI delegation at Web Summit Vancouver, where CEO Rob Goehring was featured on panels discussing the future of predictive AI in enterprise cybersecurity and risk management. The Company held targeted meetings with industry stakeholders, public-sector innovation leaders, and investors. These engagements served to strengthen Wisr AI's leadership role in Canada's AI sector while building new relationships across the North American innovation landscape. InfoSec Europe, London (June 3-5, 2025) At InfoSec Europe, one of Europe's leading cybersecurity conferences, Wisr AI advanced its market development objectives through high-level engagements with managed service providers, enterprise IT risk teams, and government-backed cyber programs. The Company showcased its predictive risk platform designed to detect vendor vulnerabilities, ingest global intelligence signals, and automate prioritization of emerging cyber threats. The event marked a key milestone in Wisr AI's strategy to expand its European footprint. VivaTech Paris (June 11-14, 2025) Wisr AI was honoured to be selected as part of Canada's official delegation to VivaTech Paris, where Canada was recognized as "Country of the Year". The event brought together over 180,000 attendees and 2,800 exhibitors, including a strong cohort of AI-focused companies from around the world. Wisr AI used the opportunity to demonstrate how its platform leverages artificial intelligence to improve cyber resilience and compliance across complex global supply chains. Throughout the conference, Wisr AI engaged in bilateral meetings with multinational corporations, innovation ministries, and enterprise risk teams. These discussions were supported by Canadian and provincial trade delegations and enabled the Company to identify potential new European partners, explore collaboration with cross-border regulatory frameworks, and align with emerging AI safety and sovereignty initiatives. Rob Goehring, CEO of Wisr AI, stated: "These global events provided a powerful platform for Wisr AI to expand its reach and share our vision of proactive, intelligence-led risk management. We're proud to represent Canadian innovation on the world stage and are encouraged by the momentum we've built with partners and prospects in both North America and Europe." Equity Incentive Grants The Company also announces that on June 20, 2025, Wisr AI adopted a "rolling" omnibus equity incentive plan (the " Incentive Plan") and granted a total of 4,550,000 stock options and 3,900,000 restricted share units (" RSUs") to certain directors, officers, and consultants of the Company. Each stock option is exercisable into one common share of the Company at a price of $0.15 per share for a period of up to 5 years. The RSUs vest in accordance with time-based criteria established by Wisr AI's Board of Directors, with none of the RSUs vesting until at least six (6) months following the grant date. The grants are intended to align the interests of the Company's team with long-term shareholder value creation and to support the continued growth and success of Wisr AI. The foregoing stock options and RSUs are subject to the Incentive Plan in all respects, as well as any required approvals of the Canadian Securities Exchange and the Company's shareholders. About Wisr AI Systems Inc. Wisr AI Systems Inc. (CSE: WISR) is a Vancouver-based technology company specializing in AI-powered cyber risk prediction and third-party risk intelligence. The Company's platform analyzes real-time global signals—including breach data, dark web intelligence, and firmographic context—to help organizations identify, prioritize, and act on emerging cyber and supply chain risks. Wisr AI supports enterprise resilience by enabling dynamic, scalable, and predictive governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) strategies. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not in any way passed upon the merits of the matters referenced herein and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Forward-Looking Information: This news release may contain statements that constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company with respect to future business activities and operating performance. Forward-looking information is often identified by the words "may", "would", "could", "should", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" or similar expressions and includes information regarding, among other things, expectations for other economic, business, and/or competitive factors. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking information is not based on historical facts but instead reflects expectations of the Company's management, estimates or projections concerning future results or events based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, such information involves risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such information, as unknown or unpredictable factors could have material adverse effects on future results, performance or achievements of the Company. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information are the following: changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; changes in applicable laws; and compliance with extensive government regulation. This forward-looking information may be affected by risks and uncertainties in the business of the Company and market conditions. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although the Company has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors which could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update this forward-looking information except as otherwise required by applicable law.
Globe and Mail
5 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Which AI Stocks Are Set to Soar in the Second Half?
Artificial intelligence (AI) stocks skyrocketed in 2024 amid excitement about this technology that could revolutionize businesses, saving time and money and leading to important discoveries. These players faced a few difficult months recently due to concerns about a potential economic slowdown. However, some of the uncertainty has passed, suggesting better days may be ahead for AI stocks. Against this backdrop, Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) are set to soar in the second half. Here's why. 1. Nvidia President Donald Trump's plan to impose tariffs on imports weighed on technology stocks, including AI chip giant Nvidia, several weeks ago. This pushed Nvidia down nearly 30% from the start of the year through early April. Though the president initially exempted electronics products, this exemption was temporary, suggesting chips and other items would face tariffs at some point in the near future. But Nvidia has since rebounded, thanks to optimism that tariffs won't be as steep as originally expected and as the company showed the strength of its earnings through the first quarter of the year. Nvidia's revenue surged 69% to $44 billion, demand remained strong, and customer comments indicate that their spending plans for the year remain intact. This bodes well for ongoing growth for Nvidia. On top of this, the chip giant is making investments in U.S. manufacturing to limit any eventual tariff impact and sticks to its plan to update chips on an annual basis -- a move that should keep it ahead of rivals. Today, Nvidia trades for only 33 times forward earnings estimates, down from about 50 times just a few months ago, and this level offers the stock plenty of room to run in the second half. 2. Apple Among all the top tech stocks, Apple may be the one that has suffered the most amid the recent tariff turbulence. Trump, displeased that Apple has generally produced most iPhones abroad, even threatened to impose a 25% tariff on Apple's imported iPhones. Meanwhile, Apple has made efforts to diversify its manufacturing, with a plan to move much of it from China to India. Uncertainty remains as the president wants Apple to bring iPhone production to the U.S., but doing this could result in a drastically higher price for the smartphone. All of this has hurt Apple stock, which is down about 20% since the start of the year. I view this as a buying opportunity because I don't think the U.S. aims to destroy Apple's growth. It's possible that both parties will reach a reasonable agreement. Meanwhile, any positive news on the subject could result in Apple stock bouncing back in the coming months. It's important to remember that Apple has built a very profitable smartphone empire with a tremendous moat, or competitive advantage, and these elements should support growth over the long term. All of this means that buying Apple now may result in gains in the coming months, but even better, set you up for a long-term win. 3. Amazon Amazon's performance has been sluggish in recent times, with a 3% decline for the year, amid concerns that tariffs could hurt its e-commerce business and cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services (AWS). But as mentioned above, the worst-case tariff scenario has been avoided, and the U.S. is making progress on trade agreements. So, I wouldn't expect to see a major impact from the tariffs on Amazon's growth. A key point is that Amazon has revamped its cost structure in recent years after facing pressure from rising inflation. This helped the company return to growth in just one year, and the efforts have positioned it well to maximize profit during future challenging times. So, these cost structure moves should help Amazon manage any potential tariff situation moving forward. And events such as Prime Day, which take place in the second half of the year, could help boost revenue. AWS has also been seeing tremendous growth from its AI efforts, which have helped it reach a $117 billion annual revenue run rate. We're still early in the AI story, so I would expect to see ongoing growth in this area, particularly since AWS is the world's No. 1 cloud service provider. Today, Amazon shares trade for 34 times forward earnings estimates, a reasonable level that could prompt investors to buy -- and help the stock take off in the second half. Should you invest $1,000 in Nvidia right now? Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Nvidia wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $664,089!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $881,731!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is994% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to172%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025
Globe and Mail
6 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Stablecoin Disruption: Time to Sell Your Visa Stock?
This week, stablecoin legislation was approved by the United States Senate. The bill -- called the GENIUS Act -- still needs to go through the other side of Congress and on to the President's desk, but it is one step closer to bringing stablecoins into the financial system. By regulating the new currencies pegged to the U.S. dollar, issuers of the coin will now need to keep ample reserves to pay back customers and also go through regular audits. Investors are betting that legislation will spur customer adoption, which is a threat to Visa (NYSE: V). If stablecoins are adopted wholesale by consumers, it could mean less payment volume through Visa's network. Less volume means less profit. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More » Does that mean it is time to sell your Visa stock? Not really. Here's why stablecoins are not a large threat to Visa's business model today. New avenues for merchant acceptance This legislation is inspiring companies to investigate making their own stablecoins. According to reports, both Walmart and Amazon -- the two largest retailers in the United States -- are exploring making stablecoins for shoppers. Retailers are incentivized to do this because of the high fees paid to the credit card networks every year, which range from 2% to 3% of every transaction. Visa only collects 0.1% or a little more of every dollar spent, while most goes to the banking partners that issue credit cards and give consumers cash-back rewards. By adopting stablecoins, merchants see an avenue to avoiding the credit card fees that are a huge expense on their operations. Wal-Mart and Amazon alone could save billions of dollars a year that are now going to the financial system. It only needs to see mass adoption of stablecoins for this to happen. Easier said than done, but there are a lot of profits on the line for trying. The big hurdle: replicating the card rewards and scale Defeating Visa and credit card fees is not going to be easy. If it were, the companies would simply stop accepting Visa altogether. But they cannot, because of Visa's immense scale in merchant acceptance and consumer usage that is difficult to replicate. Visa has operations in 200 countries and territories, accepted by 150 million merchants and growing. It also has 4.8 billion total debit and credit cards in circulation. Over $15 trillion in total payments volume is processed by Visa every year. For stablecoins to succeed, they will need to replicate not one but both sides of this network. Shoppers will not use stablecoins for everyday use unless they are accepted everywhere. Merchants will not care about accepting stablecoins if nobody uses them. Call me skeptical that they will reach Visa's scale anytime soon. This is a classic example of a network effect competitive advantage, which reinforces Visa's growing dominance in the industry. Plus, we shouldn't forget about the thing consumers love about credit cards: cash back and reward points. Credit cards are able to offer so many perks to customers because of the 2% to 3% fees charged to merchants. Without them, it is a much worse customer value proposition, another hurdle for stablecoin adoption. V PE Ratio data by YCharts Should you sell your Visa stock? No, you should not sell your Visa stock just because iy is dipping on stablecoin news. It is clear that this company has a strong competitive advantage and massive scale that stablecoin issuers are nowhere close to matching. The legislation has not even been approved yet, so there is no reason to panic. That does not mean the stock is necessarily a buy at these prices. Its earnings per share (EPS) grew 10% year over year last quarter, which is right around Visa's long-term growth. As such a large business already, it is not going to produce hypergrowth in the form of earnings, but steady durable growth over time. Today, the stock trades at a premium price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 34 even after this stock dip, making the stock expensive. Don't rush out and sell your Visa stock. But don't think the stock is a home run buy just because it slipped 10%, either. Should you invest $1,000 in Visa right now? Before you buy stock in Visa, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Visa wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $664,089!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $881,731!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is994% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to172%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025 John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Brett Schafer has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Visa, and Walmart. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
