Apple Poised to Gain as Smartphones Shrink, AI Booms

Apple ( (AAPL) ) has been popular among investors this week. Here is a recap of the key news on this stock.

IDC now expects global smartphone shipments to fall 12.9% to 1.12 billion units by 2026 as memory chip prices surge, but it believes premium players like Apple will actually gain market share. With low-end Android makers squeezed and average handset prices projected to jump 14% to $523, Apple’s strong balance sheet and high-end positioning could help it weather a “structural reset” in the market.

Apple has already shown resilience, posting a 23% jump in iPhone revenue last quarter on strong demand for its latest models, and Wall Street currently rates the stock a Moderate Buy with roughly 13% upside to a $307.55 target. J.P. Morgan’s Samik Chatterjee is even more bullish, calling Apple a prime beneficiary of emerging AI Companion devices and projecting up to $25 billion in new hardware sales by 2030, which could add about 5% to Apple’s EPS and support a price target of $325.

Core to that thesis is Apple’s expected rollout of personalized Siri and AI-native companion products such as smart glasses, pins, and home assistants, tightly integrated with its existing ecosystem and user data. If these devices gain traction from 2027 onward, they could not only defend Apple’s dominance in personal computing but also open fresh, higher-margin services revenue streams for investors focused on the company’s long-term growth story.