$AAPL · Schwab Network · 2026-11-03

Where investors react to Apple's latest results . Our next guest says: "Be mindful of the iPhone upgrade cycle; it may not be sufficient as an engine for growth."

I was just talking to Kenny Pokkari of Slatestone Wealth, and he said, "Look, who would be bothered by Apple's $114.4 billion in revenue ?" Listen, you say it's a strong quarter, but does it lay the groundwork for the next growth engine ?

Well, I think the real question is upgrading versus innovation. You know, Apple has historically, and frankly in recent history, relied on updates rather than necessarily on any innovation.

So, what worries us is how much more customers will pay for these updates, and when will they get bored with the update? This is a matter. Secondly, I hope Apple will disclose, when it talks about its additional customers, I want to know: are they people upgrading, switching, or new customers ?

This will give us greater clarity on the growth trajectory, but at the moment, there are a lot of question marks about it, and I am very critical of these continuous updates with $100 increments.

How long can this continue as a growth phenomenon?

But, to be fair, the duo, and I know it was n't counted in these last quarter results , is something new for Apple. You know, they weren't in the foldable phone market. What do you think of that as a potential incentive?

Yes, I am smiling because I believe this reinforces my position that this is not an innovation. They are simply copying other phone manufacturers. Therefore, I am very disappointed.

I hate going back to the days of Steve Jobs, but I wonder what he would have thought if he had looked at Apple’s strategic position now.

And while we're talking about new products, Diane, we should talk about the touchscreen MacBook. I'm sure your viewers and listeners realize that what they are advertising now is a touchscreen, but it's a horizontal screen.

Just think how much more comfortable and tired you would feel from touching a vertical screen, excuse me, a vertical screen and not a horizontal one. And when that happens, it is simply a product that is not intuitively easy to use.

I think Mr. Jobs would have said, "It's ridiculous to have a vertical screen that you have to touch." We all experience this on airplanes, for example. If you watch your screen vertically, after a while you will feel physically exhausted.

So, imagine working on a MacBook like this for several hours. I just don't think it's the right view of the new technology.

Okay, you don't think that's the right view of the new technology, but let's move on to talk a little about profit margins. This is clearly one of the concerns that will be raised from now on.

However, the margins under Turnus's management are actually better than they were under Cook. Why is there so much concern? Was it because the market was expecting larger margins?

Yes, of course investors like to see consistent profit margins, if not constantly growing. Therefore, the fact that input costs will be higher will put pressure on margins. I think this highlights once again the fact that they remanufacture products.

And something like margin, you know, if it were a completely new product, I do n't think investors would be that sensitive. But the strategy is: we will improve existing products, nothing new in that, yet we need these margins to be increasing or at least stable.

So, when you lack strategy and input costs are rising, I think it's a reasonable reaction for the stock to decline, because it shows that the growth trajectory may not be as hoped.

Peter, I have written an open letter to the new CEO, John Turnus. If you were in senior management there, what would you say regarding innovation? Because it seems you feel that they are not innovating in the way you would like to see them do.

What would you say if you wanted to give them some guidance?

Well, I'll say, you're a big company, and of course you're very careful with this size and this market share. You are very cautious about doing anything beyond gradual changes, but I would challenge them to adopt the motto of being more innovative .

For example, hearing aids for the hearing impaired; I have extensive experience with people who are hard of hearing and their experience with hearing aids has been terrible. Apple is ideally positioned to develop an innovative and entirely new technology to improve current hearing technology, and I believe it will face no competition in this area.

They can use artificial intelligence, and that will truly put them back on the path of innovation that we all hope to see them on. But in its current state, you know, its stock is trading as a growth company, but with a price-to-earnings ratio higher than the S&P 500 , and I wonder how long it can maintain that if it doesn't deliver some new kind of amazing technology that will change the way we behave.

I mean , that was Apple's nature in the past, but now I think it's disappointing, as I said, just improvements to existing plans.

Well, I appreciate that point and I have no preconceived notions here. I've heard this, and listen, I own the first generation of " AirPods" headphones. I've heard that the AirPods Pro 2 and Pro 3 do have certain hearing-aid capabilities.

Now, I don't know how far that goes. I've heard that it's helpful, you know, if you suffer, for example, from mild to moderate hearing loss.