Apple is also experiencing a seasonal slowdown in sales as shoppers wait on the introduction of the new iPhone Pro range. They expect powerful AI to be baked into the devices they select. “Increasing investment in agentic AI is becoming a competitive necessity rather than a differentiator,” Counterpoint warns.
Good for jobs
There’s also an impact on US employment. While Apple often faces criticism for having some of its assembly done in Asia, rather than the more expensive and inadequately resourced US, outgoing CEO Tim Cook recently explained that the company accounts for more than 400,000 jobs in the US. Many of those jobs are generated by the manufacturing of high-tech parts such as the protective glass used on iPhones.
While the significance may be easy to miss, this also means that any slowdown in device sales in the world’s second-largest economy — China — will also have a negative impact on US employment. Apple, meanwhile, continues to invest in improving US manufacturing skills and infrastructure. The company recently opened its Advanced Manufacturing Center in Houston in the presence of US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
Read the full article here
