July 31, 2025 – As Apple prepares to release its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2025 later today, analysts from Wedbush have shared their insights and predictions. While they expect the tech giant to show an overall strong performance, they believe there’s still untapped potential within the company.
Wall Street analysts generally anticipate that Apple’s core financial metrics for this quarter will be satisfactory, partly thanks to a rebound in revenue from the Chinese market. Wedbush’s research in Asia indicates that iPhone demand has remained stable during the quarter, with the Chinese market showing signs of improvement. Additionally, the services segment continues to be a major growth driver for Apple.
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter and the highly anticipated iPhone 17 series set to be launched in September, Wedbush analysts predict that this will be a key topic during the upcoming earnings call. Although Tim Cook is likely to face questions about the new quarter’s outlook, he is expected to follow Apple’s long – standing policy of not commenting on future products or services.
The analysts believe that the iPhone 17 has the potential to trigger a wave of device upgrades. One reason is the extended replacement cycle of iPhones. According to their report, out of the approximately 1.5 billion active iphones globally, more than 20% have not been upgraded for over four years.
However, Wedbush also highlighted significant challenges for Apple in the field of artificial intelligence. The company has encountered difficulties in advancing its Apple Intelligence initiative, partly due to repeated delays in upgrading Siri, a crucial component.
Reflecting on this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Wedbush described the event as “out of the ordinary” as it almost completely ignored AI, while other major tech companies were heavily promoting generative AI.
Wedbush made it clear that Apple’s AI innovations are not coming from within Apple Park. Despite Apple’s insistence that internally developed technologies will outperform those acquired through mergers and acquisitions, Wedbush analysts disagree. They argue that in today’s tech landscape, relying solely on closed – door development is no longer a viable way to stay ahead.
The analysts strongly recommend that Apple should immediately proceed with the seemingly obvious acquisition of the AI search tool Perplexity and its AI platform, even if it costs up to $40 billion. They believe that Apple’s in – house R&D team simply cannot catch up with the competition.
If Cook and the management team remain unresponsive and fail to make any progress in the acquisition field, Wedbush warns that Apple will face a “historic strategic embarrassment.”
On a more positive note, Wedbush estimates that if Apple can establish a clear profit – making model for its AI business, it could potentially increase the value per share by up to $75.
