Apple Stock News: Boosting A18 Chip Orders
Apple Stock News: Apple has increased its next-gen chip order from TSMC to 90-100 million units for the iPhone 16 series, up from 80-90 million units for the iPhone 15 series, per CTEE. Apple Intelligence in iOS 18, requiring at least an iPhone 15 Pro, is expected to drive sales. Last year’s iPhone 15 and 15 Plus had the A16 chip, while the 15 Pro models had the A17 Pro chip with TSMC’s N3E process. This year, all iPhone 16 models will use A18-branded chips with N3E; the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus will likely feature the A17 Pro design, and the 16 Pro and Pro Max will use the “A18 Pro” chip with an upgraded Neural Engine.
Standard iPhone 16 models may upgrade to 8GB of RAM from 6GB, meeting the minimum requirement for running large-language models locally. The iPhone 16 series is expected to be released around mid-September.
Support NFC Multi-Purpose Tap
Future iPhones and Apple Watches could support multiple NFC actions simultaneously, as suggested by the NFC Forum. The NFC Forum introduced NFC Multi-Purpose Tap, enabling multiple actions with one tap for enhanced convenience in receipt delivery, loyalty programs, identification, and transit ticketing.
As a key NFC Forum member, Apple likely contributed to this development. NFC was first introduced in the iPhone 6 and original Apple Watch for Apple Pay. NFC Multi-Purpose Tap would let users perform tasks like payments, logging loyalty points, and receiving receipts with one tap, benefiting retail and public transportation. Given Apple’s NFC innovations, it’s likely that NFC Multi-Purpose Tap will be in future iPhones and Apple Watches.
Paid Subscription
Apple plans to turn some of its AI features into paid services, similar to iCloud+ subscriptions. Apple Intelligence will initially be free, the long-term plan includes an “Apple Intelligence+” service with extra features requiring monthly fees. This strategy aims to create a new revenue stream to offset the slowing pace of hardware upgrades, making Apple less dependent on hardware sales.
Apple is also expected to earn a share of revenue from users subscribing to features offered by AI partners, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Gurman predicts deals with Google and Anthropic to offer their AI services through Apple devices, with an announcement likely in the fall with the release of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia. Apple has reportedly declined an AI partnership with Meta due to privacy concerns but is seeking partnerships for the Chinese market, where ChatGPT and similar services are unavailable.
