Latest news with #CreativeStrategies
CNBC
7 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Creative Strategies' Ben Bajarin breaks down Big Tech under Trump
Ben Bajarin, Creative Strategies CEO, joins 'Closing Bell: Overtime' to discuss Big Tech companies Apple and Intel under pressure from the Trump Administration.
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Apple's $500M MP Materials deal, Cook's leadership amid AI race
Apple (AAPL) is in focus after announcing a $500 million deal to buy rare earth magnets from MP Materials (MP) as investors weigh CEO Tim Cook's role as the iPhone maker lags its Big Tech peers in the artificial intelligence (AI) race. Creative Strategies CEO and principal analyst Ben Bajarin sits down with Josh Lipton on Asking for a Trend to take a closer look at the latest from Apple. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Asking for a Trend here. Apple saying say it's going to invest $500 million into MP materials as a long-time apple watcher. You saw that and thought what? Yeah, I think it's it makes a lot of sense, right? Apple has taken every opportunity through the history of this company dating back to even you know the iPod where they've built, uh, bought storage and memory up in bulk again because memory prices of those things can fluctuate. So I think anytime that you can come in and buy in bulk something that gives you a fixed price that you know you can control that pricing for yourselves going forward, um, they're going to make that investment every time, right? In this term, right, whatever rare earths they need in order to manufacture, right, whether that's parts of product or batteries or whatever that is. Those are the things that they'll secure up if they can, and it makes a lot of sense because again, in supply chain management and being able to keep costs down, that's a very strategic move. Let's stick with Cook. You saw how those analysts made some waves put out a note provocative at least and maybe it's time for a change in the C suite. What did you make of that? Yeah, I mean, I think the sentiment is really just coming from, you know, wanting to see more modern leaders or people who are coming up through the ranks that haven't been there or might bring a fresh take to the business. And I think again, right, the reality is if there was somebody better, like if Tim Cook or others thought that there was somebody better within Apple to run and move this company forward, I think they would make that change. Like I don't think this is a matter of pride or um, you know, or stubbornness. I think this is he's still the right guy. The investors believe he's the right guy. The board believes the right guy. And in fact, I believe a lot of the executives believe that he's the right guy. And so I think that's a key part of them keeping him in position. But now this again comes back to a new era of execution, which again, he is now seeing overseeing more of those businesses. Yeah, and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, I saw reported he is Cook is staying put on this on the question of Apple and AI Ben. Investors, there are investors who are disappointed with where they're at. You can see that in in the stock and how it's reacted so far this year, we're down about nearly 20%. What do you make of that? How do you think about Apple's role in this AI market right now? Yeah, I mean, I think one of the best ways to just understand, I think where we're going here is is more not in every one technology or one winner's going to win everything here. You know, I think people like to bucket OpenAI or Google or others and say like these are the ones that are going to win, like this isn't a winner take all market, right? And that's in today's era of just querying right chat GPT or Gemini to do some search. We're moving to an era which is far more agentic, right, which means that you're going to have an agent, that agent is going to work on your behalf, and it's going to understand, you know, you Josh, your preferences, your likes, you're where you're at in the world, your location, like intimate levels of details of you and then go work with other agents, Google's agents, Amazon agents, Meta's agent, etc. So you'll have this one thing and all those agents will have domain expertise. And I think Apple's goal is to have domain expertise again on the customer on their ecosystem. And that's something that they can easily do, right? They don't need to boil the ocean. They can partner with OpenAI or Gemini if you just want to search the internet. But the key is having a smart, intelligent, and intimate agent that knows you that can go and work on your behalf for actions, do predictive things, do things on your behalf. And I think that's their broader strategy, and it's just doing what they can do well, which is create a much more agent or much more friendly customer experience when it comes to AI. And can they get this done in house in Cupertino Ben? Or and I ask you because I've had analysts come on the show and tell me, it is time for Apple to bring out the checkbook. They're going to have to make a big deal, a big AI deal. I had one analyst tell me it should be perplexity. Um, that would you know, historically Apple Apple does deals, but they're they're smaller. I think the biggest one they ever had was biggest ever was beats for three billion. Um, what do you make of that line of questioning? Yeah. Right. Yeah. I mean, I'd say there's two things, right? Apple always doesn't just look at technology, they look at culture. Is this a cultural fit? So that's also a question you've got to ask is who could they buy that fits into the broader culture of Apple. But I think, you know, again, I like Perplexity. I use Perplexity. They're a little bit of a different company. You still need a big foundational model even if you're using perplexity. So that doesn't entirely solve Apple's problems. I think there's actually some smaller acquisitions that can be made. You know, you pointed out Mark German actually said that Mistral is being looked at, which is a large foundational model. I think that would make a ton of sense. And there really are a lot of startups coming out of the valley doing really interesting things, and some of those teams and those individuals in their technology might be a better fit for Apple. But again, I think they don't necessarily need this big world internet foundational model. I think if they've got this agent that's got domain expertise, and that's about their ecosystem, their software, you the customer, and your preferences, and that agent can go work with other agents, which is how the world we're moving to an agentic AI. I think they have everything they need to do on that vision. The question is do they want to do more than that? Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Tom's Guide
03-07-2025
- Tom's Guide
iOS 26 has an awesome Wi-Fi upgrade for your iPhone
We're rapidly approaching the release of iOS 26. Apple has been hard at work, and we've been eagerly anticipating all of the new features it's set to bring to the table. A small but mighty feature coming to iOS 26 is that the sign-in details for captive Wi-Fi networks are now synced across iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. If you've dealt with the annoyance of captive Wi-Fi networks, you know how tedious it can be to get every device up and running, and this feature will make it easier. Creative Strategies analyst Max Weinbach found the feature and posted about it on X while staying at a hotel. His iPhone asked him if he wanted to fill in his Wi-Fi details from his iPad, which was already connected to the hotel's network. If you're a traveler or simply someone who enjoys public Wi-Fi (with one of the best VPNs of course), this feature will enable you to log in to all your devices much more quickly. This isn't the first time we've seen this feature mentioned. Bloomberg reported that Apple was working on it, but when Apple didn't mention the feature during its WWDC presentation, we were less sure it was coming. We heard Apple is working on several other features in iOS 26 that weren't announced too, so this feature not being there isn't shocking. As for when you can get your hands on iOS 26 (if you're not interested in testing the beta), we expect it to be released in September, as that's typically when Apple puts out its major updates (though the company is changing things up this time with its naming convention). Apple's iOS 26 is expected to bring tons of new upgrades. For instance, we tried Apple's upgraded CarPlay in iOS 16 and were quite impressed with its new look and features. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trumps T1 phone's U.S. manufacturing claim meets reality check
Trump Mobile's new T1 Made in America phone, drawing inspiration from Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), is stirring skepticismanalysts say it'll almost certainly be built in China despite the U.S. branding. The T1, a $499 Android handset with a 50 MP main camera, 5 000 mAh battery, fast charging, fingerprint sensor and AI face unlock, can be preordered with a $100 down payment. Yet Oakoff Investments warns true U.S. manufacturing is impossible, and Seeking Alpha experts note that assemblyeven if statesidewon't change core software and hardware sourcing. Research firm Creative Strategies' Max Weinbach pins production on Wingtech (now part of Luxshare) in Chinese factories, mirroring the T-Mobile REVVL 7 Pro 5G under a custom shell. Even Eric Trump hedged by saying eventually U.S. production could happen, implying the T1 won't start that way. Critics call it a licensing play aimed at conservative buyers rather than a genuine reshoring effort. With U.S. supply chains under scrutiny, Made in America labels carry political and emotional weight. If the T1 is built abroad, it undercuts Trump Mobile's selling point and risks consumer backlash. At the same time, this rollout highlights the challenges any startup faces breaking into a smartphone market dominated by entrenched OEMs and globalized manufacturing. Watch for consumer reaction once teardown reports confirm the T1's originsand for whether Trump Mobile can leverage its branding enough to overcome doubts about its American manufacturing claims. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trumps T1 phone's U.S. manufacturing claim meets reality check
Trump Mobile's new T1 Made in America phone, drawing inspiration from Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), is stirring skepticismanalysts say it'll almost certainly be built in China despite the U.S. branding. The T1, a $499 Android handset with a 50 MP main camera, 5 000 mAh battery, fast charging, fingerprint sensor and AI face unlock, can be preordered with a $100 down payment. Yet Oakoff Investments warns true U.S. manufacturing is impossible, and Seeking Alpha experts note that assemblyeven if statesidewon't change core software and hardware sourcing. Research firm Creative Strategies' Max Weinbach pins production on Wingtech (now part of Luxshare) in Chinese factories, mirroring the T-Mobile REVVL 7 Pro 5G under a custom shell. Even Eric Trump hedged by saying eventually U.S. production could happen, implying the T1 won't start that way. Critics call it a licensing play aimed at conservative buyers rather than a genuine reshoring effort. With U.S. supply chains under scrutiny, Made in America labels carry political and emotional weight. If the T1 is built abroad, it undercuts Trump Mobile's selling point and risks consumer backlash. At the same time, this rollout highlights the challenges any startup faces breaking into a smartphone market dominated by entrenched OEMs and globalized manufacturing. Watch for consumer reaction once teardown reports confirm the T1's originsand for whether Trump Mobile can leverage its branding enough to overcome doubts about its American manufacturing claims. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
