Apple Inc.

[learntoinvest2022]

Is Apple Stock a good hedge in the current economic climate?

Apple and Microsoft were both founded in the late 1970s. Back then, Microsoft, in its nascent years, was interested in developing computer software while Apple was designing state-of-the-art desktops. Soon enough, both the startups observed overlapping business interests and soon entered into a fierce business rivalry.

Currently, I am an avid user of Apple. I am truly impressed by Apple’s ecosystem — how seamlessly each Apple product works together with one another. Today, I am still a user of its iPhone, iPad, as well as its Airpods. Unlike any applications, I tend to use these products on a daily basis — from whenever I wake up to before I go to sleep.

On 5th October 2015, Steve Jobs died, marking the end of an era for Apple. Steve Jobs was inspiring and a natural leader for his employees. He had successfully shifted Apple’s focus back to making cutting-edge products, which resulted in a phase of unprecedented growth for the company. A quote by the late Steve Jobs, “Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have faith in people…”

Apple today is the world’s most valuable company, with a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion (as of 1st June 2022). As the only company that has become 3 trillion, Apple does have its fair share of criticisms – labor practices of its contractors, environmental practices, and anti-competitive practices. With the recent tech sell-off, could this be a potential opportunity to buy Apple stock?

Let’s take a look at what Apple has to offer. Let’s find out!
https://learntoinvests.com/apple-stock-analysis/

[Choon]

More specifically, it's a watershed moment for Intel. Because the ARM-based Unified Memory Architecture is probably quite difficult for Intel to pull-off on short order: https://www.macobserver.com/analysis/und...hitecture/ And compute-wise, the ARM SoC completely blows Intel out of the water (70% more compute than the i7-11800H while 70% less power hungry: https://www.techspot.com/news/91809-appl...erful.html), while the highest end mobile GPU (GTX 3080) is still slightly better than the M1 Max (though consuming way more power).

Good thing for Nvidia and AMD that it will take some moment (maybe a year or 2) for Apple to expand their portfolio to compete with high-end discreet graphics in Desktops, and for developers to port high-end gaming onto the Mac platform (the main reason left for many consumers to choose Windows devices over Mac).

PS: Although Microsoft have an ARM-based Surface, it's designed by Qualcomm and is leagues behind M1 (or Intel for that matter; https://www.cpu-monkey.com/en/compare_cp...le_m1-1804) in terms of performance. Everyone is going to play catchup now. Apple is not standing still either (they probably have 5-10 years product roadmap planned out).

"(the main reason left for many consumers to choose Windows devices over Mac)."

At Apple's recent WWDC, it shared a new M2 chip and there was a comment that with the M2 chip, a Mac's performance can rival that of a high-end gaming PC.

Reading in conjunction with wildreamz's comment above (in blue), what are VBs' views on whether Mac will win much market share against PCs in the next 5 years? 

[specuvestor]

Personally I think the SoC with GPU & memory and the battery life will drive significant Apple market share gain in next 5 years to maybe 1/4 of market share from 10% now especially when they are porting over the Apps from mobile over to MacOS as well to extend the ecosystem. Problem is hard core gaming will take some time to port the code over with catch22 on user base.

Think AMD is going SoC as well but Nvidia's plan to buy ARM failed so that would stall. I wouldn't consider Intel's inbuild graphics solution to be comparable and don't see any guidance on that.

Architecturally GPU is very power intensive so is Intel's CPU on x86 platform. Apple is obsessed with battery and efficiency (no fan if possible) hence has not been able to compete in gaming or high intensity applications. But with ARM starting from their experience in iPhones they are getting there.

As a PC user I disagree PC is just for gaming purpose but flexibility. I don't think MacOs will overtake Windows in next 5-10 years just as unlikely iOS over Android.

I forgot to post here in VB but I really do think Apple's M1 chip was watershed and now followed by M1 Pro and Max, from a 5 years timeline point of view

Architecturally Mac is an efficient but not power hungry system per se as Jobs was famous for his obsession of "fanless" and Macs uses customised low powered intel and GPUs.

And this theme now sits nicely with battery life and with low powered mobile ARM architecture with SoC to integrate GPU and memory within internal bus, and render northbridge or external graphics bus redundant. And it seems M1 Max can compete with the high end GPU, presumably natively not through Rosetta.

It is watershed cause if this model ports to PC, there is little differentiation for mother board makers just like graphics daughter boards. And Nvidia better be able to team up with ARM while AMD probably have the pieces to do their own SoC solution.

Microsoft actually have a commercial ARM based Surface and if they support ARM in future instead of just Wintel it will be another watershed. But of course they have to be careful not to end up like Dell abandoning Intel exclusivity.

NB I trust VB are not "fan-based" but just for disclosure I'm not Apple fan but a PC assembly hobbyist for past 30 years

Apple expected to unveil new Macs with more powerful chips

By Stephen Nellis
October 18, 2021 5:28 PM +07

Oct 18 (Reuters) - Analysts expect Apple Inc (AAPL.O) to unveil new Mac laptop computers with more powerful processor chips at an event that will be streamed later Monday.

Bloomberg has previously reported that Apple plans to release two new MacBook Pro models with 14-inch and 16-inch screens. The Cupertino, California-based company introduced some new laptop models last year that for the first time used its "Apple Silicon" chips, which it said would be phased into the company's desktop and laptop lineup over the course of two years.

Before Monday, Apple's most powerful laptops still relied on chips from Intel Corp (INTC.O). The company has already placed a first generation in-house-designed M1 chip into some MacBooks as well as its Mac Mini and iMac desktop machines, but the new larger MacBook Pro models are expected to feature a second, more powerful generation of the company's chip.

The new chip, along with a general rise in laptop sales as employees and students stocked up on tech hardware to work and learn from home, prompted a boom in Mac sales during the pandemic. Revenue rose 11% to $28.6 billion in Apple's fiscal 2020, even as iPhone revenue declined 3%.

More details in https://www.reuters.com/technology/apple...021-10-18/

[Choon]

Personally I think the SoC with GPU & memory and the battery life will drive significant Apple market share gain in next 5 years to maybe 1/4 of market share from 10% now especially when they are porting over the Apps from mobile over to MacOS as well to extend the ecosystem. Problem is hard core gaming will take some time to port the code over with catch22 on user base.

Think AMD is going SoC as well but Nvidia's plan to buy ARM failed so that would stall. I wouldn't consider Intel's inbuild graphics solution to be comparable and don't see any guidance on that.

Architecturally GPU is very power intensive so is Intel's CPU on x86 platform. Apple is obsessed with battery and efficiency (no fan if possible) hence has not been able to compete in gaming or high intensity applications. But with ARM starting from their experience in iPhones they are getting there.

As a PC user I disagree PC is just for gaming purpose but flexibility. I don't think MacOs will overtake Windows in next 5-10 years just as unlikely iOS over Android.

I forgot to post here in VB but I really do think Apple's M1 chip was watershed and now followed by M1 Pro and Max, from a 5 years timeline point of view

Architecturally Mac is an efficient but not power hungry system per se as Jobs was famous for his obsession of "fanless" and Macs uses customised low powered intel and GPUs.

And this theme now sits nicely with battery life and with low powered mobile ARM architecture with SoC to integrate GPU and memory within internal bus, and render northbridge or external graphics bus redundant. And it seems M1 Max can compete with the high end GPU, presumably natively not through Rosetta.

It is watershed cause if this model ports to PC, there is little differentiation for mother board makers just like graphics daughter boards. And Nvidia better be able to team up with ARM while AMD probably have the pieces to do their own SoC solution.

Microsoft actually have a commercial ARM based Surface and if they support ARM in future instead of just Wintel it will be another watershed. But of course they have to be careful not to end up like Dell abandoning Intel exclusivity.

NB I trust VB are not "fan-based" but just for disclosure I'm not Apple fan but a PC assembly hobbyist for past 30 years

Apple expected to unveil new Macs with more powerful chips

By Stephen Nellis
October 18, 2021 5:28 PM +07

Oct 18 (Reuters) - Analysts expect Apple Inc (AAPL.O) to unveil new Mac laptop computers with more powerful processor chips at an event that will be streamed later Monday.

Bloomberg has previously reported that Apple plans to release two new MacBook Pro models with 14-inch and 16-inch screens. The Cupertino, California-based company introduced some new laptop models last year that for the first time used its "Apple Silicon" chips, which it said would be phased into the company's desktop and laptop lineup over the course of two years.

Before Monday, Apple's most powerful laptops still relied on chips from Intel Corp (INTC.O). The company has already placed a first generation in-house-designed M1 chip into some MacBooks as well as its Mac Mini and iMac desktop machines, but the new larger MacBook Pro models are expected to feature a second, more powerful generation of the company's chip.

The new chip, along with a general rise in laptop sales as employees and students stocked up on tech hardware to work and learn from home, prompted a boom in Mac sales during the pandemic. Revenue rose 11% to $28.6 billion in Apple's fiscal 2020, even as iPhone revenue declined 3%.

More details in https://www.reuters.com/technology/apple...021-10-18/

"Personally I think the SoC with GPU & memory and the battery life will drive significant Apple market share gain in next 5 years to maybe 1/4 of market share from 10% now"


Expansion of Mac market share from 10% to 25% in five years would be very impressive! No? If these PC users that are won over to Mac are not iPhone users currently, there is a good chance that they would switch to iPhone.

Apple would be winning iPhone users through Mac.

[specuvestor]

there are 240m iPhone sold in 2021 vs 29m Macs sold. Think it's more hopeful iPhone users will buy Mac
https://9to5mac.com/2022/01/12/2021-mac-...ts-growth/

PS 25% is probably a best case guesstimate. AMD went through few cycles of 25% vs Intel. Competitive landscape changes

[specuvestor]

AMD passes Intel in market cap. I think they need to catch up on SoC or give up manufacturing which was a strategic moat until they couldn’t compete.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/29/amd-pass...eExtension

Personally I think the SoC with GPU & memory and the battery life will drive significant Apple market share gain in next 5 years to maybe 1/4 of market share from 10% now especially when they are porting over the Apps from mobile over to MacOS as well to extend the ecosystem. Problem is hard core gaming will take some time to port the code over with catch22 on user base.

Think AMD is going SoC as well but Nvidia's plan to buy ARM failed so that would stall. I wouldn't consider Intel's inbuild graphics solution to be comparable and don't see any guidance on that.

Architecturally GPU is very power intensive so is Intel's CPU on x86 platform. Apple is obsessed with battery and efficiency (no fan if possible) hence has not been able to compete in gaming or high intensity applications. But with ARM starting from their experience in iPhones they are getting there.

As a PC user I disagree PC is just for gaming purpose but flexibility. I don't think MacOs will overtake Windows in next 5-10 years just as unlikely iOS over Android.

I forgot to post here in VB but I really do think Apple's M1 chip was watershed and now followed by M1 Pro and Max, from a 5 years timeline point of view

Architecturally Mac is an efficient but not power hungry system per se as Jobs was famous for his obsession of "fanless" and Macs uses customised low powered intel and GPUs.

And this theme now sits nicely with battery life and with low powered mobile ARM architecture with SoC to integrate GPU and memory within internal bus, and render northbridge or external graphics bus redundant. And it seems M1 Max can compete with the high end GPU, presumably natively not through Rosetta.

It is watershed cause if this model ports to PC, there is little differentiation for mother board makers just like graphics daughter boards. And Nvidia better be able to team up with ARM while AMD probably have the pieces to do their own SoC solution.

Microsoft actually have a commercial ARM based Surface and if they support ARM in future instead of just Wintel it will be another watershed. But of course they have to be careful not to end up like Dell abandoning Intel exclusivity.

NB I trust VB are not "fan-based" but just for disclosure I'm not Apple fan but a PC assembly hobbyist for past 30 years

Apple expected to unveil new Macs with more powerful chips

By Stephen Nellis
October 18, 2021 5:28 PM +07

Oct 18 (Reuters) - Analysts expect Apple Inc (AAPL.O) to unveil new Mac laptop computers with more powerful processor chips at an event that will be streamed later Monday.

Bloomberg has previously reported that Apple plans to release two new MacBook Pro models with 14-inch and 16-inch screens. The Cupertino, California-based company introduced some new laptop models last year that for the first time used its "Apple Silicon" chips, which it said would be phased into the company's desktop and laptop lineup over the course of two years.

Before Monday, Apple's most powerful laptops still relied on chips from Intel Corp (INTC.O). The company has already placed a first generation in-house-designed M1 chip into some MacBooks as well as its Mac Mini and iMac desktop machines, but the new larger MacBook Pro models are expected to feature a second, more powerful generation of the company's chip.

The new chip, along with a general rise in laptop sales as employees and students stocked up on tech hardware to work and learn from home, prompted a boom in Mac sales during the pandemic. Revenue rose 11% to $28.6 billion in Apple's fiscal 2020, even as iPhone revenue declined 3%.

More details in https://www.reuters.com/technology/apple...021-10-18/

[Behappyalways]

https://mobile.twitter.com/wallstmemes/s...7616424960

[CY09]

We do not have a Taiwan Listed Thread. So pasting this news here

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/work...p_catchall

Likely will disrupt Apple's iPhone production but if the report is true, the way workers are being treated at the China iPhone production factory is pretty bad, locked within the facility and given only Bread and Instant Noodle, mirrors the Shanghai Lockdown a few months back

[Behappyalways]

Apple is now valued more than Alphabet, Amazon and Meta combined
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news...ch-2022-11

[Behappyalways]

Apple Turned Off Protest Communication Tool Right Before Anti-Lockdown Uprising In China
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/a...sing-china