Apple beyond iPhone 16: AI, between health care and mass market challenges

What made the event at the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park particularly noteworthy wasn’t so much the unveiling of the iPhone 16—the first powered by Cupertino’s in-house AI—but rather the clear reveal of its Artificial Intelligence strategy, which “will take time to scale across the customer base,” along with two key announcements in the healthcare space. These include new features for the Apple Watch and AirPods2 that “signal Cupertino’s medium-term focus on the medical market and value-added services.” This is the analysis offered by Edoardo Narduzzi, CEO of Mashfrog, in an interview with The iConomy on Class CNBC.

The new AI-powered Apple era, centered around Silicon A18, is based on "a proprietary platform that integrates third-party solutions and will eventually incorporate the features of Apple's app ecosystem" to tackle Cupertino's real challenge: capitalizing on the AI advantage in the B2C market.

Narduzzi emphasizes that Apple “continues to be the queen of international financial markets” and is now facing a challenge that goes far beyond the smartphone. The company is focused on its primary market—the United States—where it must compete with Chinese brands and Samsung. In China, the world’s second-largest device market, Apple “holds a position that’s not easy to defend,” ranking as the sixth-largest manufacturer, with competitors who are not followers but leaders of the AI-powered smartphone and tablet revolution in the mass market. Meanwhile, Apple places less emphasis on Europe, a region with lower profitability and notable technological and regulatory delays in the AI space.

"Whether Apple will successfully execute its strategy remains to be seen in the coming quarters. But it has the human capital, technical expertise, and financial strength—along with unmatched capabilities in data collection and processing—that place it in a unique position to ride the wave of AI applied to business in the years ahead."