The 35th Apple World Developers Conference (WWDC) was held from the 10th to the 14th of this month (i.e. from the 11th to the 15th Beijing time). At the opening keynote speech of the conference, Apple announced a partnership with OpenAI to launch the "Apple Intelligence" suite around AI features. In addition, Apple has also released updates to systems such as iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and WatchOS 11. The industry expressed optimism about Apple's AI era's end-to-end innovation driving the industry chain to embrace a new round of development opportunities.
The collaboration between Apple and OpenAI has been brewing for several months, but WWDC's nearly 2-hour keynote speech only took up 2 minutes, indicating that the company has established a partnership with OpenAI and will access ChatGPT supported by GPT-4o. Users can use it for free without having to associate an account.
The entire speech provided a detailed introduction to Apple's proprietary AI technology, and the "Apple Intelligence" suite was officially launched. It can be based on Apple's built-in large language model, covering almost all important native applications. By understanding natural language, it executes user voice or text instructions, including prioritizing push notifications, summarizing text, generating images, and so on. Meanwhile, AI instructions can run across applications (such as emails, maps, calendars, and personal information stored locally). Apple emphasizes that this is a set of AI capabilities based on personal situations and proposes the concept of "private cloud computing", which means that "Apple Intelligence" will enable cloud computing mode on dedicated servers using Apple chips to ensure the privacy and security of user data.
Apple's release of Vision Pro's operating system VisionOS 2 has attracted market attention, with the core change being the photo app, where ordinary 2D photos in the iPhone gallery can be converted into 3D spatial photos. Apple claims that this will revolutionize the way users appreciate photos by spatializing ordinary photos through advanced machine learning, advancing spatial computing.
At the press conference, Apple also released updates to systems such as iOS 18, iPadOS 18, WatchOS 11, and macOS 15, introducing satellite messaging functionality for iMessage and messaging applications. The Vision Pro headset is scheduled to be launched for sale in multiple countries including China on June 28th.
However, Tesla CEO Musk subsequently frequently posted on X, accusing Apple of "selling user data" and stating that if Apple integrates OpenAI at the operating system level, he will prohibit its devices from entering his own company.
Guo Minggui, an analyst at Tianfeng International, pointed out that Apple Intelligence fully demonstrates Apple's ecological integration and interface design advantages, and mainly emphasizes integration convenience and existing application enhancement. This is practical for users, but only adds icing on the cake for investors. Investors are looking forward to seeing original and essential features, and their concerns also include whether Apple Intelligence cannot be listed globally simultaneously and whether the key selling points of integrating ChatGPT can be used in all major markets worldwide.
Morgan Stanley stated that the World Developers Conference (WWDC) held by Apple is a key catalyst for the company's "official" entry into the field of artificial intelligence. The combination of AI features, other investments in the Apple ecosystem, and hardware upgrades may drive product expectations upwards, maintaining a "buy" rating and offering a target price of $216.
Yan Fan, Chief Analyst of China Merchants Securities in the electronics industry, believes that Apple is optimistic about continuing to lead end-to-end innovation in the AI era and ushering in a new round of development opportunities in the industry chain. We believe that at this conference, Apple has well explained its understanding of the development of end-to-end AI, emphasizing that Apple Intelligence should be built on personal information and privacy, surpassing artificial intelligence, and demonstrating its leading AI capabilities. He believes that Apple has strong software and hardware product definitions and the ability to create and optimize application scenarios. The trend of mobile AI still needs to keep up with Apple's pace. It is expected that Apple's iPhone, wearables, and XR hardware will usher in another year of innovation from 2025 to 2026, and is optimistic that Apple's AI era will promote end-to-end innovation and drive the industry chain to embrace a new round of development opportunities. Apple AI is only supported from the iPhone 15 Pro series, which is expected to drive a wave of old users switching devices and bring upward flexibility in domestic Apple chain performance and valuation.