When Apple released Siri alongside the iPhone 4S in 2011, the world had never seen anything like it. Siri was the first smart assistant to hit the mass market, way before Google Assistant, Bixby, or Alexa. Yet today, in the era of generative artificial intelligence, Apple’s early lead seems to have amounted to little.
Smaller and less resource-rich players like OpenAI have since captured global attention with more sophisticated technologies. So how is it that one of the world’s most powerful and wealthiest companies, which had a considerable head start, is barely a contender in such a strategic sector?
A missed turn in the AI race
Apple's technological decisions are as much to blame as its financial strategy. Even though the company announced its long-awaited Apple Intelligence at WWDC 2024, but many key features were reportedly delayed until 2026 — or even 2027, according to some insiders.
At WWDC 2025, Apple demonstrated an elegant integration of AI into its ecosystem, blending local and cloud computing with a strong focus on privacy. But the demonstrations fell far short of what ChatGPT, Gemini, or Copilot already deliver.
Behind the scenes, Apple is said to have only 50,000 old GPUs dedicated to AI, while Microsoft reportedly purchased almost 485,000 Nvidia Hopper chips in 2024 alone.
Google and Meta operate at an even greater scale, with infrastructures amounting to several hundred thousand accelerators. Some analyses suggest Google may already surpass one million combined GPUs and TPUs. This gap in computing power illustrates just how far behind Apple has really fallen.
Shareholder pressure versus innovation
In 2022, when generative AI began to take off, Apple was still the world’s most valuable company. Today, on the SP500 heatmap, Apple ranks third behind Microsoft and Nvidia, precisely because of their huge investments in artificial intelligence.
Apple now faces an unusual predicament: to deliver credible AI service to its users, it must rely on third-party partners like OpenAI by integrating ChatGPT into Siri. For a company famous for controlling its ecosystem, this dependency borders on an admission of failure.
One of the most revealing aspects is the influence of Apple's finance department. According to reports, CFO Luca Maestri refused to approve the full budget for new GPUs, calling the expense excessive. He signed off on only half the request, urging teams instead to make existing hardware “more efficient.”
This financial caution contrasts sharply with rivals willing to spend tens of billions to secure an AI edge.
Apple, meanwhile, has funneled massive amounts into share buybacks: $110 billion announced in 2024, compared with just $31 billion in R&D that fiscal year.
Critics argue this imbalance shows Apple prioritizes shareholder satisfaction over innovation.
Tim Cook has pushed back, emphasizing Apple’s approach: "Not first, but best," he says, arguing that the company prefers to refine its products before releasing them. But in a market evolving at breakneck speed, that reassurance may no longer suffice — especially since Apple once pioneered the very category it is now struggling to compete in.
Can a former leader catch up?
Apple is playing for high stakes. Sitting out the artificial intelligence race too long risks weakening its ecosystem and undermining its position in the global tech hierarchy.
The company's greatest advantage lies in its integrated control over hardware and software, creating the ideal environment for transformative AI features. Failing to leverage this strength could leave the iPhone, Mac, or iPad without the transformative innovations that competitors are racing to deploy.
Having laid the groundwork with Siri, Apple is unlikely to step aside entirely. The company has already lost significant time in reclaiming its former leadership position in this field, but it still commands vast resources. The real question is not whether Apple can catch up, but whether it can do so quickly enough to matter.
This article was written in cooperation with Tradingview