iPad sales have rebounded as Apple nears a big AI push

Apple announced its latest iPad Pro and iPad Air tablets a few months ago, and after several quarters of weak sales, the new products have led to a significant boost for the company’s iPad division. Combined with strong performance in services and Mac, Apple released quarterly revenue of US$85.8 billion, an increase of 5% compared to the same quarter of the previous year. iPhone and wearables revenue has remained relatively stable as consumers look forward to a new wave of products soon.

When Apple releases its next earnings, the company will have launched the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. Among other improvements, the Pro models will have slightly larger screens, while the standard iPhones will have the power button. action that debuted last year. These devices are expected to arrive in September alongside new AirPods headphones and updated Apple Watch hardware. Apple is also rumored to be working on spec improvements for its MacBook Pro and Mac Mini, which will likely be updated with the M4 chip this fall.

On the software side, the company is in the midst of public betas for its upcoming releases iOS 18, iPadOS 18, tvOS 18, macOS Sequoia, and watchOS 11. For iPhone, iPad, and Mac, these updates will mark Apple’s big entry into generative capabilities. of AI, which will include some integrations with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The company is planning to release this set of Apple Intelligence software features with iOS 18.1.

“What we did was reallocate a lot of people in AI who were working on other things,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. told CNBC. “Certainly embedded in our results this quarter is a year-over-year increase in the amount we spend on AI and Apple Intelligence.”