Apple的最新收益显示，它如何继续利用AI的繁荣，而不中断其消费竞争对手的基础设施预算。
Apple在AI上
在季度收入呼吁中，有45次提到大赦国际。
总体而言，Apple将其收入和每股收入列为有史以来最好的财政年度。 iPhone和Mac的销售在第四季度继续强劲增长。 iPhone收入从一年前上升到9月的576亿美元，增长17.5%，而Mac收入则上升到24%，达到108亿美元，是4年来的最高水平。 Apple警告说，不断上涨的内存成本会挤压其在节假日的利润率。
Apple并未透露其收入增长多少反映了AI的需求或更高的价格
在收入呼吁中，CFO Kevan Parekh列举了“大赦国际可以促进收入随时间推移增长的广泛方式”。
“在产品方面，我们感到AI为客户升级和切换提供了令人信服的理由，以便获得最新的能力，” “我们也感到第三方应用程序和伙伴关系以及第一党机会之间都有机会。
Apple可以出售其巨型用户基，用于AI的设备，即使AI本身来自他人。 它可以收取AI应用程序订阅费。 而它可以对客户进行充电，他们想要更多访问自己的AI功能。
John Ternus 称首次以CEO身份致电
根据金融研究平台AlphaSense, AI和Apple Intelligence在收入呼吁中被提到45次
在收入呼吁中提及大赦国际或“Apple情报”
在呼吁下，Apple继续把自己定位为消费者使用AI(包括竞争对手的技术)的接口。 拥有超过25亿个活动设备，它已经有大量的观众来观看所出现的AI服务。
Apple与其大科技同行不同，它的方法结合了端侧处理，自己的服务器，以及AI技术之外。 Siri AI使用用Google的Gemini技术开发的模型，而据报道，Apple计划让用户在AI外部供应商中选择写作工具和图像生成等功能。
Apple上季度在资本支出上花费了22亿美元，而Amazon的资本支出为773亿美元，Alphabet的资本支出为514亿美元。 这些总额包括全公司的CapEx，而不仅仅是AI，并且不包括AI的一些开支。 Apple的运营开支增加了21%，达到192亿美元，包括AI。 Siri AI的云费用将出现在销售的服务成本中。 估计需要多少服务器而不是端侧处理，Apple的资本支出仍然只占同行的一小部分。
更多的AI用法也给Apple一些可以出售的东西。
Siri AI才刚开始到达客户。 Apple 发布是9月为美国英语用户改编的β语助手，10月扩充为法语，日语，韩语，葡萄牙语和西班牙语。
Apple计划将部分用途转为订阅收入。 Ternus 称功能依赖服务器侧模型，包括Siri AI和智能照片编辑，将具有使用限制。 客户需要更多的能力，“将来将能够购买扩大的准入”，他称。 “一开始，iCloud级主要是关于存储的，但我们已经增加了更多的能力和特性。
Apple在客户购买其硬件在当地运行AI时，包括其他公司开发的模型，也会受益。 Mac, Ternus 称，“拥有自己的AI时刻。”
“我们认为AI为客户升级和切换提供了令人信服的理由，以便获得最新的能力。”
Apple提供了公司将其计算机用于AI的具体实例。 在Macmini电脑上运行AI，防止数百家商店的损失，Christie正在Mac Studio电脑上运行本地模型
对于这些客户，购买Apple硬件提供了一种不用支付每个请求的云提供商就使用AI的方法。
Mac Mini and Mac Studio, Ternus 称，“正在推动本地私人AI的界限，赋予用户能力
Mac Mini作为人工智能机器的出现，使这个小的，无屏幕的桌面在开发者和爱好者中获得了一个新的支持，他们寻求一种相对负担得起的方式在当地运行模型。 今年早些时候，当时的CEO蒂姆·库克(Tim Cook 称)客户对Mac Mini和Mac Studio的AI和代理工具能力的认识比Apple的预测快，导致需求高于预期。
Apple订阅他人AI时也会赚钱。 今年早些时候，"华尔街日报"报道，据分析公司AppMagic称，Apple正在2026年从基因AI应用中引进超过10亿美元的App Store收费。
当然，这些收入取决于客户通过Apple系统支付。 OpenAI开始指示潜在用户通过自己的网站而不是App Store付费，绕过Apple的佣金，"华尔街日报"报道。 兹Q 1Z的立场提供了从竞争对手AI获利的途径，但这些竞争对手有动机找到一条围绕其收费的路线。
然而，Apple已经有多种方式从使用AI的人那里受益。 它可以出售计算机，收取订阅佣金，并最终收取更多自己的服务费。 它不需要建立每一个模式 — — 或按照竞争对手的规模为基础设施提供资金 — — 来获得报酬。
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Apple’s latest earnings show how it’s continuing to capitalize on the AI boom without busting its budget on the infrastructure spending consuming its competitors.
Apple is all in on AI — its own and everyone else’s
AI was mentioned 45 times on the quarterly earnings call.
Overall, Apple posted its best-ever fiscal year for revenue and earnings per share. iPhone and Mac sales continued to grow strongly in the fourth quarter. iPhone revenue rose 17.5% from a year earlier to a September quarter record of $57.6 billion while Mac revenue climbed 24% to $10.8 billion, its highest level in four years. Shares nevertheless fell in premarket trading Tuesday after Apple warned that rising memory costs would squeeze its profit margins in the holiday quarter.
Apple hasn’t disclosed how much of its revenue growth reflects AI demand or higher prices, but its executives clearly see the technology as a way to drive further sales.
During the earnings call, CFO Kevan Parekh cited a “wide range of ways that AI can contribute to revenue growth over time.”
“On the product side, we feel AI offers a compelling reason for customers to upgrade and switch in order to get the latest capabilities,” he said. “And we also feel there’s opportunities across third-party apps and partnerships as well as first-party opportunities.”
Apple can sell its giant user base the devices they use for AI, even if the AI itself comes from someone else. It can collect fees on subscriptions to AI apps. And it can charge customers who want more access to its own AI features.
“We see tremendous opportunity in AI,” John Ternus said on his first earnings call as CEO.
AI and Apple Intelligence were mentioned a record 45 times on the earnings call, according to financial research platform AlphaSense — even more than on the call following Apple’s unveiling of the technology and plans for a revamped Siri in June 2024.
Mentions of AI or “Apple Intelligence” on earnings calls
On the call, Apple continued to position itself as the interface through which consumers use AI — including competitors’ technology. With more than 2.5 billion active devices, it already has an enormous audience for whatever AI services emerge.
Apple, unlike its Big Tech peers, isn’t pouring comparable sums into infrastructure. Its approach combines on-device processing, its own servers, and outside AI technology. Siri AI uses models developed with Google’s Gemini technology while Apple reportedly plans to let users choose among outside AI providers for features such as writing tools and image generation.
Apple spent $2.2 billion on capital expenditures last quarter, compared with Amazon’s $77.3 billion and Alphabet’s $51.4 billion. Those totals cover companywide CapEx, not just AI, and exclude some AI expenses. Apple’s operating expenses rose 21% to $19.2 billion as it increased R&D spending, including on AI. Siri AI’s cloud costs will appear in services cost of sales. Those costs could grow with usage: Parekh said it’s too early to predict how many requests will require servers rather than on-device processing. Still, Apple’s capital spending remains just a fraction of its peers’.
More AI usage also gives Apple something to sell.
Siri AI is only beginning to reach customers. Apple launched the revamped assistant in beta for US English users in September and expanded it to French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish in October.
Apple plans to turn some of that usage into subscription revenue. Ternus said features relying on server-side models, including Siri AI and intelligent photo editing, will have usage limits. Customers who need more capacity “will be able to purchase expanded access in the future,” he said. “In the beginning, iCloud tiers were largely about storage, but we’ve been adding more capabilities and features to it.”
Apple also benefits when customers buy its hardware to run AI locally, including models developed by other companies. Mac, Ternus said, is “having an AI moment all its own.”
“We feel AI offers a compelling reason for customers to upgrade and switch in order to get the latest capabilities.”
Apple offered specific examples of companies putting its computers to work on AI. Gap is running AI entirely on Mac Mini computers for loss prevention across hundreds of stores, avoiding cloud token costs for those tasks. Christie’s is running local models on Mac Studio computers to improve workflows including pricing estimates.
For those customers, buying Apple hardware provides a way to use AI without paying a cloud provider for every request.
Mac Mini and Mac Studio, Ternus said, “are pushing the boundaries of local, private AI, giving users the ability to do things once considered impossible.”
The Mac Mini’s emergence as an AI machine has given the small, screenless desktop a new constituency among developers and hobbyists looking for a relatively affordable way to run models locally. Earlier this year, then-CEO Tim Cook said customer recognition of the Mac Mini and Mac Studio’s capabilities for AI and agentic tools was happening faster than Apple had predicted, leading to higher-than-expected demand.
Apple also makes money when customers subscribe to someone else’s AI. Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was on pace to bring in more than $1 billion in App Store fees from generative AI apps in 2026, according to analytics firm AppMagic.
That revenue, of course, depends on customers paying through Apple’s system. OpenAI has begun directing potential subscribers to pay through its website instead of the App Store, bypassing Apple’s commissions, The Wall Street Journal reported. Apple’s position gives it a way to profit from competitors’ AI, but those competitors have an incentive to find a route around its fees.
Still, Apple already has multiple ways to benefit from people using AI. It can sell the computer, collect a subscription commission, and eventually charge for more of its own services. It doesn’t have to build every model — or fund infrastructure on its competitors’ scale — to get paid.
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