Apple Skips the AI Infrastructure War

Apple reported a record-breaking fiscal year with $114.5 billion in fourth-quarter revenue, marking a strong debut for the company under new chief executive John Ternus. Surging sales of the iPhone and Mac products drove this financial beat, though declines in iPads and wearables highlighted a mixed overall hardware performance. Despite these impressive figures, investors grew cautious due to slowing growth in China, rising memory component costs, and the absence of massive AI infrastructure spending seen at competing technology giants. Furthermore, analysts noted that the earnings beat leaned heavily on temporary tariff refunds, leaving the company's holiday-season outlook dependent on navigating persistent supply constraints and unproven artificial intelligence updates.