During its first 10 days on the market in the US and China, Apple’s iPhone 17 outsold last year’s iPhone 16 by 14%, according to Bloomberg, citing Counterpoint Research. This data builds on other indicators suggesting the new iPhone is a relative hit.
Counterpoint credits the phone’s improved display, added storage, and the upgraded A19 chip for the sales boost, but we think it probably has more to do with a natural upgrade cycle.
The embarrassing episode sprouted from a misunderstood post, amplified by an OpenAI executive as proof of GPT-5’s mathematical prowess, but turned out not to be what it seemed.
Sales of Apple’s latest iPhone are shaping up for a good year, after a couple of pretty crappy ones, according to the latest analyst consensus estimates from FactSet.
Analysts have been revising up their iPhone revenue expectations for the fiscal year ended in late September — which includes a half month of the latest iPhone sales — and now expect iPhone revenue to rise 4.5% in FY 2025 to $210 billion. Growth for FY 2026 is now pegged at 5.5%. Last year, sales were basically flat after declining more than 2% in FY 2023. Of course, as Apple’s hold on the global smartphone market has grown over the years, its latest growth expectations pale in comparison to the early 2010s, but still represent the strongest growth since the pandemic.
Some are crediting the iPhone 17’s physical redesign for positive sales indicators, but we suspect the boost has more to do with a natural upgrade cycle than any specific features.
The stock is trading up nearly 2% premarket and is expected to open near a record high today, following positive early sales estimates from Counterpoint Research and an upgrade from Loop Capital which raised its price target to $315, a Street high.
Apple reports its 2025 fiscal year results on October 30.
Google is aiming to release the latest version of its flagship AI model, Gemini 3.0, in December, according to a report from Sources.news.
The updated model is expected to make significant gains that should boost it to the top of the leaderboards, according to the report.
The Gemini app also spent some time at the top of the iOS App Store leaderboards, propelled by Google’s Nano Banana image generation model, which proved popular with users looking to turn themselves into action figures. Gemini briefly knocked ChatGPT from the top spot, which is now occupied by OpenAI’s other hot app, Sora.
Recently, there have been signs of ChatGPT downloads slowing, which could provide an opening for Gemini to gain market share. Adding some premium Gemini features to the free tier is a plan under discussion within Google, per Sources.news.
Sources.news also reports that a “small, secretive team” inside Google is working to integrate Gemini into Apple’s operating systems.
The Gemini app also spent some time at the top of the iOS App Store leaderboards, propelled by Google’s Nano Banana image generation model, which proved popular with users looking to turn themselves into action figures. Gemini briefly knocked ChatGPT from the top spot, which is now occupied by OpenAI’s other hot app, Sora.
Recently, there have been signs of ChatGPT downloads slowing, which could provide an opening for Gemini to gain market share. Adding some premium Gemini features to the free tier is a plan under discussion within Google, per Sources.news.
Sources.news also reports that a “small, secretive team” inside Google is working to integrate Gemini into Apple’s operating systems.
Meta’s Hyperion mega data center site in Richland Parish, Louisiana, is currently under construction. The city-sized development will be the home to one of the largest data centers in the world, housing around 2 million pricey GPUs, and will scale up to an eventual 5.5 gigawatts.
So, how is Meta planning to pay for this expensive project?
Bloomberg reports that Meta has signed a deal with asset management company Blue Owl Capital to finance $30 billion to pay for the project, marking what could be the largest private capital deal ever.
According to the report, Blue Owl and Meta would co-own the site, with Meta retaining a 20% stake in the project. PIMCO is also part of the financing for the deal, as the anchor lender.
Raising the massive capital to fund all of these huge AI data center projects is pushing companies to use unusual financing arrangements. The Information reported that xAI made such a deal with Valor Equity Partners worth $20 billion to rent the GPUs needed for its Colossus 2 data center.
Bloomberg reports that Meta has signed a deal with asset management company Blue Owl Capital to finance $30 billion to pay for the project, marking what could be the largest private capital deal ever.
According to the report, Blue Owl and Meta would co-own the site, with Meta retaining a 20% stake in the project. PIMCO is also part of the financing for the deal, as the anchor lender.
Raising the massive capital to fund all of these huge AI data center projects is pushing companies to use unusual financing arrangements. The Information reported that xAI made such a deal with Valor Equity Partners worth $20 billion to rent the GPUs needed for its Colossus 2 data center.
European eyewear company EssilorLuxottica said during its earnings call yesterday that its Ray-Ban Meta glasses helped boost its revenue growth, something that’s sent the ADR up to a record high.
“Clearly, there is a lift coming from Ray-Ban Meta wearables as a product category,” the company’s CFO, Stefano Grassi, said on the call Thursday. “The contribution from Ray-Ban Meta in wearables, as I mentioned before, is in excess of 4 percentage points overall for the group.”
EssilorLuxottica’s revenue was up 11.7% in the third quarter compared with a year ago.
Meta has a nearly 3% stake in the eyewear company, which it has partnered with on the smart glasses. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also claimed that its Ray-Ban Metas are a hit, saying that the “sales trajectory that we’ve seen is similar to some of the most popular consumer electronics of all time.” We looked at the numbers and aren’t so sure.
