Jim Cramer recently labelled Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) as a standout performer, reflecting on the company’s product focus under the leadership of new CEO, John Ternus. He anticipated a strong demand trend for the company’s latest Duo foldable iPhone as Apple enters the premium foldable smartphone market.
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First Product Event Under John Ternus
Apple just conducted its first product event under the new CEO, and outcomes appear promising. It introduced its first foldable smartphone, the iPhone Duo, which grabbed headlines. The device is powered by the company’s latest A20 Pro chip, with a starting price of $1,999.
The company is also planning to introduce Apple Pay in India initially through Axis Bank credit cards. The planned rollout follows regulatory changes allowing biometric authentication for card payments, which support Apple Pay’s Face ID- and Touch ID-based authentication model. Apple is expected to add banks gradually through individual agreements.
Moreover, Apple is reportedly exploring a return to the enterprise server market with an AI-focused server designed primarily for inference workloads. Selling servers would enable the company to address the local inference requirements of governments, businesses and AI developers. Its M-series chips already combine performance with relatively efficient power consumption.
Siri AI Beta Hits EU and China Snags
Apple is currently subject to intense regulatory scrutiny tied to its App Store practices, and digital markets legislation. This could potentially result in costly structural changes across its lucrative services business model.
For its redesigned Siri AI Beta launch, the company highlighted that initially it won’t be available across the European Union on iPadOS, iOS, and watchOS. China is another market where regulatory constraints prevail, which limits access.
It is also important to note that the Apple Pay launch will not cover the India’s UPI system, which carries a dominant position across the country’s digital payments landscape. Processing around 84% of the digital-payment volume across the country, it poses substantial competitive threat to Apple right away.
Institutional Sentiment
Data tracked across 1,000+ hedge funds by Insider Monkey still shows significant amount of institutional interest in Apple. This is despite a very marginal drop in the number of hedge funds holding positions. As per 13F filings, hedge fund ownership declined from 170 funds in Q1 2026 to 169 funds in the following quarter. Short interest remains below 1%, suggesting very nominal bets against the stock.
BlackRock is the largest institutional stakeholder in the company, as per Yahoo Finance database. The asset management company holds 1.16 billion shares, translating into 7.97% ownership in the stock. Other notable stakeholders include Vanguard Capital Management and State Street with 6.57% and 4.21% ownership respectively.
Conclusion
The near-term market sentiment will be driven by demand trends and sales momentum for product launches under John Ternus. Advancement of AI features across its lineup will remain a key discussion point for investors. Overcoming regulatory hurdles across key markets like EU and China would enable further penetration within additional segments. The key test for investors is whether these initiatives create genuinely incremental revenue rather than simply extending Apple’s existing ecosystem into new formats.
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