Apple's AI challenges in 2026
2025-12-31_19-14 • 3m 24s
Contessa Brewer (Anchor)
00:00.040
The
stakes
are
high
going
into
2026.
Steve
Kovac
is
following
this
in
today's
tech
check.
So,
how's
it
looking
for
2026?
Steve Kovach (Technology Correspondent)
00:07.640
It's
going
to
be
all
about
AI.
So,
like
you
mentioned,
this
year
it
was
the
tariff
thing
that
was
the
biggest
drag
on
the
stock.
If
In
fact,
if
you
look
from
August
6th
when
Tim
Cook
went
to
the
Oval
office
with
President
Trump
and
gave
him
that
golden
trophy
and
said
we're
Steve Kovach (Technology Correspondent)
00:20.760
going
to
invest
$600
billion,
stock
has
been
up
about
35%
since
then.
So,
it's
up
about
9%
on
the
year.
And
the
rest
of
it,
the
hangover
here
is
artificial
social
intelligence.
Now,
as
you
alluded
to,
they
failed
to
deliver
that
Siri
AI
update
that
was
supposed
to
happen
in
Steve Kovach (Technology Correspondent)
00:35.920
March.
Uh,
they
said
it's
going
to
happen
next
year.
Now,
a
lot
of
people
think
that
means
March
of
2026.
And
look,
we
know
what
it's
supposed
to
do.
We
know
how
it's
supposed
to
work,
but
is
it
going
to
be
good?
And
by
the
way,
what
investors
can
test
really
need
to
pay
Steve Kovach (Technology Correspondent)
00:50.080
attention
to,
it
has
to
be
so
good
that
it
convinces
people
to
upgrade
their
phones
because
unlike
ChatGPT
or
Gemini
and
so
many
other
chatbots,
Apple
intelligence
and
this
new
version
version
of
Siri
is
going
to
be
free
with
your
iPhone.
So
Apple
needs
to
uh
make
sure
people
Steve Kovach (Technology Correspondent)
01:06.080
are
buying
these
new
phones
in
order
to
enable
those
new
AI
features.
That
means
uh
anybody
with
a
15
or
lower
would
have
to
go
out
there
and
buy
it.
So
that
that's
the
one
thing.
The
other
thing
they
could
possibly
do
is
they
could
change
their
mind
and
say
we're
going
to
do
a
Steve Kovach (Technology Correspondent)
01:19.880
subscription
fee
uh
for
these
new
advanced
features.
Maybe
they
introduced
some
stuff
that
they
didn't
show
us
already,
but
it's
been
a
long
time
coming.
It
was
June
2024
when
they
first
announced
Apple
Intelligence
and
here
we
are
it's
by
the
time
they
actually
get
it
out
the
Steve Kovach (Technology Correspondent)
01:35.200
door.
It's
going
to
be
about
two
years
later.
Contessa Brewer (Anchor)
01:36.880
The
thing
that
I
find
baffling
is
that
Apple
has
always
led
the
way
in
new
tech
and
getting
especially
consumer
facing
Right.
technology
What
is
taking
so
long?
Steve Kovach (Technology Correspondent)
01:47.680
It
It's
not
uh
Well,
lead
the
way
in
the
sense
that
they'll
take
something
that's
already
there
and
just
make
it
better,
right?
I
mean
Contessa Brewer (Anchor)
01:52.920
if
you
smartphone
existed
at
least
if
you
want
to
look
at
BlackBerry
leading
the
way
Exactly.
on
Steve Kovach (Technology Correspondent)
01:57.840
smartphones
but
you
know
like
But
then
they
took
that
idea
and
and
made
it
so
much
better,
Right
right.
And
And
so
people
were
expecting
them
to
do
the
same
with
artificial
intelligence.
What
was
the
problem
there?
Uh
part
of
it
could
be
the
team
that
they
had
in
place.
Uh
so
Steve Kovach (Technology Correspondent)
02:09.280
John
Gianandrea,
he
was
the
head
of
AI.
He's
out.
Uh
he
got
pushed
out
most
likely
and
he
is
uh
going
to
be
out
of
the
company
at
the
beginning
of
next
year.
There's
a
new
head
of
AI
who
is
not
even
reporting
to
Tim
Cook
yet.
That
could
be
part
of
it.
The
other
thing
is
they
Steve Kovach (Technology Correspondent)
02:23.280
decided
to
mostly
build
it
themselves
as
opposed
to
what
they're
going
to
do
next
year,
partner
with
Google
or
Anthropic
or
ChatGPT.
GPT
to
do
it
and
they
couldn't
make
that
happen.
Contessa Brewer (Anchor)
02:32.000
The
AI
is
a
piece
of
that.
Right.
How
much
of
a
piece
is
the
affordability
of
the
Apple
ecosystem?
Steve Kovach (Technology Correspondent)
02:39.240
Because
Meaning
it's
what
Contessa Brewer (Anchor)
02:40.520
Well,
if
you've
got
people
who
are
affordability
focused
Yeah
that
it's
an
easy
choice
to
go
with
an
Android
over
an
Apple
product.
You
Steve Kovach (Technology Correspondent)
02:51.320
You
also
got
to
keep
in
mind
that
is
true,
but
especially
here
in
the
United
States,
there's
so
many
deals.
We
see
these
commercials
all
the
time.
You
trade
in
your
old
phone,
you
get
it
for
free.
The
carrier
give
you
these
enticing
deals
in
order
to
get
you
to
subscribe
to
Steve Kovach (Technology Correspondent)
03:04.760
them.
They
pay
Apple
upfront
and
you
pay
them
back
over
time.
So
a
lot
of
people
are
they
end
up
getting
their
phone
for
basically
zero
down,
let's
call
it
and
you
kind
of
lease
it
over
time.
So
the
affordability
of
the
phones
becomes
less
of
a
problem.
It's
these
subscription
Steve Kovach (Technology Correspondent)
03:18.320
fees
that
they're
laying
on
top
of
it
that
could
affect
kind
Contessa Brewer (Anchor)
03:22.400
of
what
you're
talking
about.
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