{"id":778477,"date":"2026-05-07T00:59:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/778477\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T00:59:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:59:22","slug":"the-smartphone-era-is-ending-the-way-it-started-with-apple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/778477\/","title":{"rendered":"The smartphone era is ending the way it started: with Apple"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>      Quick Read    <\/p>\n<ul class=\"yf-1p2hw41\">\n<li class=\"yf-1p2hw41\">\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Apple (AAPL) generated Q2 FY2026 revenue of $111.2B (up 17% YoY) with iPhone sales of $57B fueled by iPhone 17 demand and Services hitting $31B at 76% gross margins.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"yf-1p2hw41\">\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 stocks and Apple wasn&#8217;t one of them. <a href=\"https:\/\/247wallst.com\/lp\/top-10-ai-stocks\/?pt=AAPL&amp;i=b3b80617-bd77-49c7-818b-807823023ff2&amp;p=ecf6d5a4-7e6e-4e25-84bb-587ab66e3617&amp;pos=keypoints&amp;tpid=1590580&amp;l=07c229c0-e094-4c08-9145-6f69c4d3fc1a&amp;c=de44328e-c72f-42e3-a560-da454af2ac81&amp;utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=feed&amp;utm_content=feed||1590580\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Get them here FREE;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Get them here FREE&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Get them here FREE<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">In 2007, Apple opened the smartphone era. In 2026, <strong>Apple<\/strong> (<a href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/quote\/AAPL\/\" data-ylk=\"slk:NASDAQ:AAPL;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;NASDAQ&quot;}\" class=\"link \" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NASDAQ:AAPL<\/a>) is positioned to close it. The handheld glass slab that reshaped computing is now the thing the industry is racing to replace with always-on, heads-up ambient AI. The company that drew the first map is drawing the next one.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Q2 FY2026 net sales hit $111.2 billion, up 17% year over year, with net income of $29.6 billion, up 20%. iPhone alone delivered $57 billion, fueled by what Tim Cook called &#8220;extraordinary demand for the iPhone 17 lineup.&#8221; Services set an all-time record at $31 billion, up 16% YoY, at gross margins near 76%. R&amp;D rose to $8.2 billion, up 34%, pointed at glasses and AI.<\/p>\n<p>      The roadmap is the thesis    <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Apple refreshed Vision Pro to the M5 silicon last year and is reportedly preparing a Vision Air for 3Q 2027, over 40% lighter than the original Vision Pro, swapping titanium and glass for magnesium alloy and plastic and an iPhone-grade processor to drop the price. In 2Q 2027, Apple is expected to ship Ray-Ban-style AI glasses with voice and gesture control, acetate frames, and four designs in testing including a Wayfarer-style and slim rectangular look favored by Cook. Vision Pro Gen 2 follows in 2H 2028 with LCoS waveguides. Targeted weight: under 50 grams, achieved by tethering compute to the iPhone &#8220;puck.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>         The structural advantages    <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Three moats no rival can match:<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 stocks and Apple wasn&#8217;t one of them. <a href=\"https:\/\/247wallst.com\/lp\/top-10-ai-stocks\/?pt=AAPL&amp;i=b3b80617-bd77-49c7-818b-807823023ff2&amp;p=b46e70c8-cf34-4e1c-a27d-bb4cdc79b4f6&amp;pos=mid_content&amp;tpid=1590580&amp;l=07c229c0-e094-4c08-9145-6f69c4d3fc1a&amp;c=de44328e-c72f-42e3-a560-da454af2ac81\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Get them here FREE;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Get them here FREE&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Get them here FREE<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"yf-1p2hw41\">\n<li class=\"yf-1p2hw41\">\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\"><strong>Distribution.<\/strong> The 1 billion+ iPhone install base (Apple counts 2.5 billion active devices across categories) becomes the compute puck for glasses.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"yf-1p2hw41\">\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\"><strong>Silicon.<\/strong> Apple has reportedly booked over 50% of TSMC&#8217;s initial 2nm capacity for 2026. The GAA nanosheet design delivers up to 30% better power efficiency than 3nm, decisive for heat-limited eyewear.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"yf-1p2hw41\">\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\"><strong>Cash.<\/strong> A $123 billion cash position funds multi-year memory pre-pays as DRAM and HBM prices have surged 80 to 90% versus late 2025. Apple returned $36 billion in buybacks over a six-month stretch and authorized another $100 billion.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>      Google and Meta as foils     <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Google&#8217;s Android XR leans on Warby Parker, Gentle Monster, Gucci, Samsung, and Xreal. Smart, but fragmented. Meta has a head start with Ray-Ban Meta. Apple owns the customer, the silicon, and the storefront in-house.<\/p>\n<p>       The inflection   <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Smart glasses unit volume is projected to rise from 6 million in 2025 to 20 million in 2026, with 2026 the breakout year before Apple enters. With roughly 69% of the global population needing corrective eyewear, the addressable surface is enormous. Apple is arriving late on purpose. That is the iPhone playbook.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Risks are real: U.S. and EU antitrust pressure on App Store economics, GDPR backlash against camera-equipped frames, 2nm and HBM4 yield slips. None break the thesis. Prediction markets price 95.5% odds on an iPhone 18 launch in 2026 and 83% on a foldable iPhone before 2027. By 2030, the smartphone peak will be remembered as the precursor to the ambient era.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Once again, Apple is drawing the new map.<\/p>\n<p>     The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks   <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">This analyst&#8217;s 2025 picks are up 106% on average. He just named his top 10 stocks to buy in 2026. <a href=\"https:\/\/247wallst.com\/lp\/top-10-ai-stocks\/?pt=AAPL&amp;i=b3b80617-bd77-49c7-818b-807823023ff2&amp;p=01173850-71f4-455c-bfa3-d0377c4d2d64&amp;pos=end_of_article&amp;tpid=1590580&amp;c=de44328e-c72f-42e3-a560-da454af2ac81&amp;l=07c229c0-e094-4c08-9145-6f69c4d3fc1a&amp;utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=feed&amp;utm_content=feed||1590580\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Get them here FREE;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Get them here FREE&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Get them here FREE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quick Read Apple (AAPL) generated Q2 FY2026 revenue of $111.2B (up 17% YoY) with iPhone sales of $57B&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":778478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[239,203798,611,158,67,132,68,24447],"class_list":{"0":"post-778477","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-apple","9":"tag-gross-margins","10":"tag-mobile","11":"tag-technology","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-vision-pro"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116530588238085311","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}