Apple's slower approach to AI has benefited the company in at least one area.

While Apple lags behind Google and Samsung in incorporating AI features into their smartphones, Google and, to a lesser extent, Samsung have introduced AI capabilities that are both useful and easily accessible. However, features like Magic Cue AI for Pixel users haven't always performed perfectly. Despite occasional glitches, its proactive information delivery from messages, calendars, and emails surpasses the iPhone's current AI capabilities, such as refining email composition.

Interestingly, Apple's position regarding AI has positively impacted its stock market performance. In November, amid a tech stock sell-off, particularly for AI-focused companies, Nvidia fell by 8.08%, Alphabet by 2.58%, Microsoft by 1.47%, and Amazon by 3.90%. In contrast, Apple's stock has risen by 0.75% this month.

This is partly due to Apple's lower spending compared to competitors. In the last quarter, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Meta collectively spent $100 billion on property and equipment, while Apple spent only $3 billion. AI was notably absent from Apple's recent iPhone event, unlike the previous year's event, where it was a major focus.

Apple is expected to utilize a customized 1.2 trillion parameter version of Google's Gemini Large Language Model (LLM) to enhance AI Siri, contrasting with the 150 billion parameter model used for the cloud-based version of Apple Intelligence. This deal will reportedly cost Apple $1 billion. Unlike its competitors, Apple's lower AI spending has relieved pressure from analysts, contributing to its stock's stability, since they are not being asked to justify huge expenditures in the AI sector.