Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives has set a new Street-high price target of $325 for Apple stock, raising it from his previous $300 target and signaling potential upside of 26% from current levels. The bullish outlook is driven primarily by Apple’s aggressive push into artificial intelligence through its “Apple Intelligence” platform.
Ives believes Apple is entering “a golden era of growth” as the tech giant rolls out its AI strategy across its entire product ecosystem. The analyst emphasizes that while the transformation won’t happen overnight, the foundation is being laid for a multi-year growth cycle that could fundamentally change Apple’s consumer growth narrative.
Apple’s AI rollout is already underway with the recent release of iPhone iOS 18.2 earlier this month, which introduced several AI-powered features including ChatGPT integration, custom emoji creation capabilities, and an AI-based image generator. These features represent just the beginning of Apple’s AI ambitions, with a major overhaul to Siri expected in early 2025 that will make the assistant more conversational and intelligent.
The analyst’s optimism is backed by significant market opportunity. Ives estimates that approximately 300 million iPhones are currently waiting to be upgraded, representing a massive installed base of users who could be motivated to purchase new devices as AI capabilities become more compelling. His supply chain checks suggest that consumer interest in Apple’s AI features is growing, potentially setting up what he describes as “a historical” iPhone upgrade cycle.
Looking beyond the immediate product releases, Ives envisions Apple’s AI strategy catalyzing an entire ecosystem of innovation. He predicts that “hundreds of AI-driven apps” will be built by third-party developers on top of Apple Intelligence’s building blocks, creating a virtuous cycle of innovation and user engagement.
The multi-year growth trajectory Ives foresees includes next-generation chip architecture specifically designed for AI workloads, new hardware releases optimized for AI functionality, and future iPhone models built from the ground up with artificial intelligence as a core feature rather than an add-on. This comprehensive approach positions Apple to compete effectively in the rapidly evolving AI landscape while leveraging its existing ecosystem advantages.
Key Quotes
A golden era of growth for Cupertino is now on the horizon into 2025
Dan Ives, Wedbush analyst, made this statement when raising Apple’s price target to $325. This quote encapsulates his bullish thesis that Apple’s AI strategy will drive significant growth in the coming years.
Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will Apple’s AI strategy but the seeds of that strategy with Apple Intelligence are now forming and will transform the Apple consumer growth narrative over the coming years
Ives uses this analogy to temper expectations while emphasizing the long-term transformative potential of Apple’s AI initiatives. It acknowledges that the full impact will take time to materialize but the foundation is being established now.
Our view is Apple’s AI rollout over the next few months kick-starts a new era for Cupertino as ultimately hundreds of AI driven apps get built by developers on top of the building blocks of Apple Intelligence
This quote highlights Ives’s vision for how Apple Intelligence will create a platform ecosystem, similar to how the App Store revolutionized mobile computing. It suggests the AI features will enable third-party innovation beyond Apple’s own implementations.
Our Take
Ives’s aggressive price target reflects a broader Wall Street awakening to Apple’s AI potential, which the market may have initially underestimated. Unlike competitors racing to deploy cloud-based AI services, Apple’s approach emphasizes on-device processing and privacy, which could prove differentiating in an era of growing data concerns.
The 300 million iPhone upgrade opportunity is particularly compelling because it suggests pent-up demand that AI features could unlock. However, the success of this thesis depends on whether Apple Intelligence delivers genuinely useful capabilities or becomes another underutilized feature like previous Siri iterations.
What’s most intriguing is the platform play—if Apple successfully creates an AI development ecosystem, it could establish the same kind of moat it built with the App Store. This would make Apple not just an AI consumer company but an AI platform company, which commands significantly higher valuations. The early 2025 Siri overhaul will be a critical test of whether Apple can execute on this vision.
Why This Matters
This analyst upgrade represents a significant vote of confidence in Apple’s ability to successfully transition into the AI era, which has broader implications for the entire technology sector. Apple’s entry into consumer-facing AI could democratize artificial intelligence for hundreds of millions of users who may not have extensively engaged with AI tools before.
The potential 300 million iPhone upgrade cycle driven by AI features signals that artificial intelligence is moving from a niche technology interest to a mainstream consumer driver. This shift could accelerate AI adoption across society and validate the massive investments tech companies have made in AI infrastructure and development.
For the AI industry, Apple’s integration of AI into its closed ecosystem could set new standards for privacy-focused, on-device AI processing, potentially influencing how other companies approach AI deployment. The emphasis on building developer tools on top of Apple Intelligence also suggests a new platform opportunity that could spawn entirely new categories of AI applications.
Finally, if Ives’s prediction proves accurate, it demonstrates that AI can drive tangible hardware upgrade cycles and revenue growth, not just software subscriptions, which has important implications for how investors value AI capabilities across the technology sector.
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