Good iPhone Sales: Apple Has Won the Risky AI Bet – For Now
The sales slump for iPhones predicted by analysts has not materialized, despite Apple's AI weakness. How could this happen? An analysis.
(Image: Sebastian Trepesch / heise medien)
Think different. Apple's historic slogan once again served the company well in its corporate history. While analysts on Wall Street and large parts of the industry, amidst the AI hype, assumed that Apple's apparent lag in artificial intelligence could harm the company's iPhone sales, Apple thought differently: for the iPhone 17 generation, they remained conservative, primarily relying on old strengths in hardware – battery, camera, design, and storage – to make up for the deficit in the AI race. Necessity was, in a way, turned into a virtue. Successfully, as is now evident in November 2025.
In recent days and weeks, Apple has been making headlines: According to market researchers, the company is even overtaking Samsung in device sales from the smartphone throne. The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro Max are said to be particularly successful in China. Previously declining sales figures in the Far East had caused the Californians concern for a long time. In addition to the strained relationship between the USA and China, analysts primarily blamed Apple's lack of an AI offering for the fact that the Chinese were buying fewer iPhones and preferring other brands. Competitors saw their big chance in Apple's perceived weakness and fired from all AI cannons. The former growth market threatened to become a vortex.
iPhone Sales in China Work Well Even Without AI
In fact, China is still waiting to see anything of Apple Intelligence at all. Apple's AI has not yet been launched there because the Chinese government mandates a local partner. And this search, as well as fulfilling the state's requirements, continues to drag on. Anyone buying an iPhone 17 in China currently is doing so with the awareness that they will not receive any AI in the operating system for the time being – at best, the promise that it will come eventually might motivate a purchase. But even this thesis stands on shaky ground, as Apple Intelligence is largely met with skepticism in the industry.
It is much more likely that AI at the operating system level is simply completely or at least largely irrelevant to many smartphone users so far. In any case, significantly less so than an immediately striking design change, as seen with the Pro models of the 17 series. Although Apple CEO Tim Cook recently pointed out during the presentation of quarterly figures that Apple Intelligence does indeed motivate some purchases – and he would wish for more. This shows that Apple is certainly aware that some buyers place a high value on AI when making new purchases. Google benefits from this with the Pixel 10. But these are apparently still small customer segments and not the broad mass that is more relevant for Apple.
Time for Apple's Own AI Approach
And it would also be presumptuous and dangerous to believe that buyers are fundamentally not interested in AI on smartphones. It just seems that they don't necessarily desperately long for it here and now. This may also be because their current AI needs, if they have any, are well covered by apps from providers like OpenAI (ChatGPT), Google (Gemini), or Anthropic (Claude).
This gives Apple valuable time to develop the AI topic according to its taste. Focus areas like data protection, local processing on the device, and an AI focused on individual functions initially looked like a burden, compared to the all-powerful, all-encompassing AI chatbots of others. The current Apple Intelligence is also ridiculed because Apple makes it incredibly difficult for itself, while others, for example, on the topic of data usage, take the easier path.
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A Chance, But Also Many Doubts
This different path for "the rest of us" initially seemed like an extremely risky AI bet when Apple's AI offensive was unveiled in the summer of 2024, when the industry's pulse was at 180. But gradually, it's becoming apparent that ChatGPT & Co. are losing some steam, and that not every new version number is causing a seismic shift. Interest in AI, if you look at the still-good numbers from hardware suppliers like Nvidia or the expansion of AI data centers, has by no means died down. But the market apparently thirsts for new ideas, for consolidation, for something thought differently.
This could be an opportunity tailor-made for Apple. Whether they actually seize it in the large ring building in Cupertino is another question. The numerous departures of AI specialists indicate that there are massive doubts internally as well. For 2026, the first priority is to breathe new life into the dusty voice assistant Siri. Apple cannot afford further delays or a disappointing outcome here. And AI is not the only area where software chief Craig Federighi needs to make progress.
An Expression of Thinking Differently
After all, Apple has a few trump cards in hand. With the opening up of local AI for developers, the iPhone manufacturer has laid a foundation upon which something can be built. Much about Apple's Private Cloud Compute is still nebulous, but it appears to have potential.
And then there is the extremely powerful hardware, which has currently taken a significant leap forward with the M5 chip in AI calculations. At first glance, this doesn't sound like Think Different – after all, good hardware is the most obvious thing for a hardware company. But in times when everyone else is chasing the next big thing, perhaps it is simply an expression of thinking differently to focus on what has proven itself.
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