Robert Paul Leitao on Premarket: Apple is red (and oversold) - 'In four trading days Apple’s market cap has dropped from $4 trillion to $3.83 trillion. Alphabet’s market cap is now greater than Apple’s as the search giant takes its place in the #2 spot on the list, bested only by NVIDIA.'
on Business Insider: What Apple does this year may determine how Tim Cook is remembered - 'Not absorbed. “Assimilated.” Resistance is futile. Get you story straight. :p'
on Apple investors: Mark your calendars for Jan. 29 - 'MacRumors is reporting that the shareholder meeting will be February 24.'
on Business Insider: What Apple does this year may determine how Tim Cook is remembered - 'Gregg Thurman You – will – be – ab – sorbed. The Borg was listening and took note. 🙂'
on Dell gets points for its nearly AI-free briefing at CES - 'I had a little discussion with my stepson today about AI and Apple’s future. He’s deep into it, with a loaded MacBook Pro M4, but even that is groaning under his demands, and he’s considering trading up to the MacBook Pro M5 even though he’s only had the M4 for a year. Clearly, there’s demand growing for a real AI desktop powerhouse “for the rest of us”, and I have zero doubt Apple is moving with deliberative speed in that direction, possibly with its desktops. I can’t think of anyone, even Nvidia, that would be able to compete with Apple in that arena. Their production capacity alone would blow everyone else out of the water, not to mention data security, app support, and ability to cross-pollinate into other Apple products….'
on Business Insider: What Apple does this year may determine how Tim Cook is remembered - 'Meanwhile, I haven’t seen a single article or comment from any of these Apple-focused voices about the highly questionable legacies of all of the CEOs for the super-scaler companies going all-in on capex for AI datacenters. I’d say any CEO’s priority still should be “to leave a solid foundation so the next leader could create change intentionally without chaos”! “AIAIAIAIAIAIAI!!!!!” has thus far just been the flavour of the year.'
on Business Insider: What Apple does this year may determine how Tim Cook is remembered - 'Refer back to the preceding post on chips; Apple designs, TSM foundry, and long-term thinking. Expect a lot more to come from this. Chips and OSes are warp and woof of Apple’s Magic Carpet. The AI patterns will be woven into it somehow over time.'
on Business Insider: What Apple does this year may determine how Tim Cook is remembered - 'It is a truism that what we all do in the present may determine how we are remembered in the future. Good or bad. Can’t just rest on our laurels no matter how good they are. For some reason in January 2026 speculating about Apple and Tim Cook seems to be what is concerning business writers. Of course some of this is just grasping for eyeballs and writing about Apple is a great way to do that. And of course saying something is “pivotal” (less dramatic than some adjectives) also is part of the game. If we all said we were patiently waiting for Apple’s AI Siri and if it doesn’t show up on the new timetable we will shrug our shoulders (again) and say okay who cares. We still have the buyback and billions of devices to sell services to rely on. Saying the company is not at a critical point like it has been in the past is technically correct but not pleasing to the tech world which has a cost. One Apple has paid over and over before when they didn’t keep people properly entertained while delivering new products. Getting back to Tim Cook’s era at Apple I will say they have not found a fun way to manage the expectations of the media and consumers over time. (imagine putting that into the job description for the new CEO of the future) Most of the product announcements are revealed by others (with a few exceptions) before Apple tells us officially. Product release events seem to be fewer even though the product line is bigger than ever. Somehow something has squeezed some of the anticipation out of the process. It makes sense as the company and its products mature but this time of year feels like the lull before the storm when it comes to something new coming out of Apple. Since we don’t seem to have Iphone production cut rumors to get upset over people are looking for other concerns to make us anxious. Rising Ram costs seems to fill that bill. Expecting a record quarter for revenue and profit has gotten us very little emotionally. Can’t wait to get out of these doldrums.'
on Premarket: Apple is red (and oversold) - 'I feel it noteworthy there was no “Apple slashes iPhone orders” this year.'
on SemiAnalysis: How Apple made TSMC, and vice versa - 'I have two remaining gift subscriptions (1 month) to SemiAnalysis that I can submit for other Apple3.0 members. (First one went to PED.) Send me the email address you already use for Substack (or your regular address if you aren’t already a Substack user.) My gmail address is: TheRogerSchutte at gmail dot com.'
on Business Insider: What Apple does this year may determine how Tim Cook is remembered - 'Using the logic of those cited, Cook’s “legacy” may be defined by what he didn’t do [crash and burn].'
on Dell gets points for its nearly AI-free briefing at CES - 'With all the AI ‘foggin’ up the joint’, this is like a breath of fresh air. I’ve long maintained that with all the AI spend going around, it’s quaintly amusing how the all-important consumer is the least plussed, and it won’t be until there’s a race-to-the-bottom with its monetization (or lack thereof) to prove-out my little theory.'
on SemiAnalysis: How Apple made TSMC, and vice versa - 'Morris Chang, who is 94 now, would have been 81 when he bet on Apple in 2013. Chang retired in mid 2018, some 5 years after that transformative decision. What if, contrary to the prevailing wisdom that Tim Cook is about to retire because he is old and wanting to preserve his legacy, he sees Chang as his role model? That would leave Cook at the helm for another two decades. Is there definitive information out there to show this is not Cook’s game plan, that he is indeed retiring soon?'
on Premarket: Apple is red (and oversold) - 'Tim Cook retiring. China invading Taiwan. Trump’s tariffs. No super cycle. Maduro hasn’t upgraded his iPhone. Vestager is unretiring. Nvidia and Google have surpassed Apple’s market cap. Meta’s only allowing Androids in the Metaverse. The lead times for the iPhone 17 have shortened by 7 seconds. Warren Buffett went back to using his flip phone. The Bible is being rewritten as Eve never took a bite from an Apple. It was a pear. Apple is doomed.'
on Premarket: Apple is red (and oversold) - 'How soon do we actually think that’s happening? I wonder how long we will have to live in this “OMG, Tim Cook is going to retire!” mindset. Years?'
on Premarket: Apple is red (and oversold) - 'I believe the drop in stock is due to the rumors of TC retiring heating up and solidifying. Everyone ‘knows’ the stock will drop with the formal announcement, and short term traders (not long term investors) want to get ahead of the curve.'
