Expanding AI endeavors: Tim Cook expresses eagerness for acquisitions that hasten Apple's AI roadmap, as the company boosts investments and restructures teams to tackle expansion projects in artificial intelligence.
In the third fiscal quarter of 2025, Apple reported a significant increase in revenue, net income, and services revenue, as well as a focus on artificial intelligence (AI) investments and acquisitions.
Apple's flagship product, the iPhone, continues to be the company's top earner, generating $44.6 billion in revenue, a notable rise from $39.3 billion at the same quarter last year. The company's net income for the quarter reached $23.4 billion, up from $21.4 billion in the third quarter of 2024. Gross margin for the quarter came in at 46.5%, compared to $46.27 billion last year.
Apple's interest in AI is evident in its recent acquisitions. The company has made around seven takeovers this year, though not all were related to AI. Notable acquisitions include the $1 billion purchase of Intel's smartphone modem business in 2019, which brought key patents and over 2,000 employees to accelerate the development of Apple's own 5G modems. In the early 2010s, Apple acquired Anobit Technologies, AuthenTec (Touch ID), and PrimeSense (Face ID) to boost its in-house development capabilities. More recently, Apple acquired a portion of Dialog Semiconductor in 2018, licensing power management technologies and hiring over 300 Dialog engineers.
Apple is open to mergers and acquisitions to accelerate its AI roadmap. Among the potential targets is Perplexity AI, a significant AI company valued at around $18 billion, which would be Apple's largest acquisition if it happens. Interest in partnerships or acquisitions involving Anthropic and OpenAI has also been reported, but no formal deals have been made yet.
Apple views AI as one of the most profound technologies of our lifetime and intends to embed it across its devices and platforms. The company is moving a significant number of employees to AI-related work, tasked with developing new features that leverage machine learning and related technologies.
The Beats Music streaming service became the foundation for Apple Music, and the Beats-branded portfolio continues to help Apple maintain the No.1 position on the market of wireless headsets. Custom silicon development for Beats devices is justified due to the Beats-branded portfolio.
In the realm of hardware, Mac PC sales also saw a rise, with $8.0 billion in revenue compared to $7.0 billion last year. Apple's infrastructure spending remains modest compared to other major high-tech companies, with $12.933 billion spent on capital expenditures in fiscal year 2025.
In summary, while Apple has made multiple AI-related acquisitions this year, the only specific third-party company publicly mentioned as a potential acquisition target to accelerate its AI roadmap is Perplexity AI. Interest in partnerships or acquisitions involving Anthropic and OpenAI has also been reported, but without confirmed transactions. Apple posted a total revenue of $94.0 billion for the third fiscal quarter ending June 28, 2025, a 10% increase from the previous year.
Apple is investing in artificial intelligence (AI) to drive its future growth, as demonstrated by its numerous AI-related acquisitions this year, such as the potential acquisition of Perplexity AI, a significant AI company valued at around $18 billion. The company's focus on technology, particularly AI, is evident in the significant number of employees being tasked with developing new features that leverage machine learning and related technologies.
