When someone can actually ask if tech stock Apple’s (AAPL) artificial intelligence (AI) connections are actually delivering value, there is significant trouble ahead. That is just what a couple of new reports out about Apple did. But Apple shareholders are taking it in stride, and sent shares up fractionally in the closing minutes of Thursday’s trading.
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The first report noted that Apple has finally brought ChatGPT to the Apple hardware lineup, including the iPhone, the iPad, and the macOS platform. Good news, of course, but its exact value is coming into question as some note that there is no guarantee that ChatGPT will bolster sales of Apple hardware.
Certainly, the report notes, ChatGPT is now far easier to access thanks to the Apple infrastructure than it was without. And there is indeed a value in convenience. But the report notes that it’s “difficult to tell if this latest batch of AI services is enough to get consumers to pony up for the latest iPhone, iPad or Mac.” And as long as that is the case, there will inevitably be some consumers who say that, no, it is not. That is a worrying position for Apple, who recently scuttled plans for a hardware subscription system.
Apple Intelligence Is Not Faring Much Better
And that was when Creative Bloq asked what might be the worst question it could have asked: “Is Apple Intelligence already doomed to irrelevance?”. This question followed a study from Sellcell, who reported that, for 73% of surveyed iPhone users, AI features add “little or no value to improving their daily lives.” The report further found that AI features simply are not a factor in deciding which phone to purchase for over half of surveyed prospective smartphone buyers.
As is commonly the case with surveys, this may only go so far. Sellcell might have just surveyed, say, a lot of artists or other people who are concerned about the impacts of AI on the job market. But for numbers like that to come out around the utility and attractiveness of AI platforms is a disturbing development for Apple. Apple put a lot into AI, after all.
Is Apple a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on AAPL stock based on 20 Buys, nine Holds and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 28.86% rally in its share price over the past year, the average AAPL price target of $243.72 per share implies 2.37% downside risk.
