Apple takes 25% of the Chinese market, up from 19% last year, on strong iPhone 17 sales

Apple’s iPhones accounted for one out of four smartphone sales in China in October, according to new data from Counterpoint Research, up from 19% last year. Overall, smartphone sales grew 8% driven by strong sales of Apple’s iPhone 17, giving the company its best-ever start to its all-important holiday quarter in the country.

The iPhone 17 base model as well as the Pro and Pro Max all saw mid- to high double-digit growth compared with last years, per Counterpoint.

China smartphone Oct 2025 — Counterpoint Research

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Rani Molla32m

Analyst downgrades Microsoft and Amazon, saying GenAI economics are “far weaker than assumed”

Amazon and Microsoft are down about 2% premarket after an analyst downgrade and amid a broader AI sell-off, as investors continue to wonder when the hyperscalers’ intense spending on AI infrastructure will pay off.

Rothschild & Co Redburn analyst Alexander Haissl downgraded both companies Tuesday to “neutral” from “buy,” breaking with many of his peers. (Over 90% of the stocks’ analysts have buy-equivalent recommendations for them, according to Bloomberg.)

The industry’s narrative that generative AI is akin to the early cloud, he wrote, is “increasingly misplaced,” saying that the underlying economics for GenAI are “far weaker than assumed.”

Rani Molla59m

Google’s CEO on AI bubble: “I think no company is going to be immune, including us”

Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai is the latest head of a tech firm investing heavily in AI to admit that we may be in a bubble.

“I think no company is going to be immune, including us,” he told the BBC.

But like the others, he believes his company is positioned to come out on the other side stronger. And like the others, he compares the current moment’s AI spending to the “excess investment” of the earlier internet that ultimately led to the dot-com bubble. While there were huge losses, the technology changed the world and is integral to how it works today.

“Given the potential of this technology, the excitement is very rational,” Pichai told the BBC. “It’s also true when we go through these investment cycles there are moments where we all shoot collectively as an industry.”

“There are elements of irrationality through a moment like this.”

Google boss says trillion-dollar AI investment boom has 'elements of irrationality'

“There are elements of irrationality through a moment like this.”

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Musk wants Tesla’s Optimus to get in and out of the Cybercab to deliver packages

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos seem to be competing on nearly every level. Both have media companies, both have space companies, and both helm private AI companies. Now it seems their giant public tech companies are slated to go head to head.

Musk has told his teams working on the Optimus robot that he wants it to be able to get in and out of the company’s Cybercab to make deliveries, according to a report by The Information. Amazon, of course, has also been amping up its use of robots, eventually planning to have them deliver its e-commerce packages.

The Optimus and Cybercab are supposed to go into production next year.

How Musk Could Tie Together Tesla and xAI

The Optimus and Cybercab are supposed to go into production next year.

Rani Molla11/17/25

Elon Musk runs an AI startup — now, so does Jeff Bezos, as he launches Project Prometheus

Jeff Bezos, the third-richest man in the world and the founder of Amazon, a company increasingly focused on AI, has created a new AI startup of which he will be co-CEO, according to The New York Times. The new venture, Project Prometheus, aims to use AI to engineer and manufacture automobiles and spacecraft. It also sounds quite a bit like Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI.

Musk, the richest man in the world and the CEO of Tesla, a company increasingly focused on AI, also leads his AI startup and is progressively working on integrating its technology into his vehicle and space companies.

Musk’s space company is SpaceX, while Bezos’ is called Blue Origin. Musk owns social media company X, formerly Twitter, which is now part of xAI. Bezos owns media company The Washington Post. Bezos also has invested in an EV company, Slate Auto, which some see as a “Tesla killer.” Got it?

In other words, Bezos and Musk remain engaged in a billionaire version of “keeping up with the Joneses.”

Rani Molla11/17/25

FT says Apple’s CEO could step down as soon as 2026, Bloomberg disagrees

Late Friday, the Financial Times reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook, a 65-year-old who’s led the company for nearly 15 years, could be stepping down as early as next year. On Saturday, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, whose Apple reporting is considered gospel by many, pooh-poohed that timeline, saying that while Apple is readying succession plans, “I don’t get the sense anything is imminent as the @FT is claiming.”

Both the FT and Bloomberg have reported that Apple’s hardware chief, John Ternus, is likely next in line.

The stock is down about 1% premarket, as investors contemplate what Apple, which recently posted a superlative Q4 earnings report, would be like without its longtime supply chain guru.

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