Apple Could Emerge as a Major AI Powerhouse in 2026: Report

Apple's journey in the artificial intelligence (AI) space has been lacklustre. The Cupertino-based tech giant first announced its foray into the space with Apple Intelligence at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in 2024. In the subsequent months, the company released several new AI features for its devices, but most were either viewed as novelty or were not on par with what competitors were offering. However, a new report now claims that the iPhone maker is now poised to turn its fortunes around in 2026.

Apple's AI Could Make a Comeback in 2026

The Information predicted that in 2026, Apple would turn its AI slump around and emerge as a major player in the space. The claim may seem bold at first, but the publication backs it with reasons why the company might have collected all the pieces it needs to scale AI capabilities across its devices and services.

Apple was a late entrant in the AI game. While OpenAI pioneered the space in late 2022 with the release of ChatGPT, companies such as Microsoft and Google followed suit as early as the first half of 2023. The same year witnessed the inception and rise of startups such as Anthropic and Perplexity, which are now established names in the space. Even those companies which took a cautious approach, such as Amazon and Meta, established themselves in the space by the end of the year.

But Apple did not make any AI commitments until March 2024, when it first unveiled Apple Intelligence, a suite of new AI features for its devices. These features, then, did not reach the market until late 2024. By the time features such as Writing Tools, Image Playground, Clean Up, and Genmoji arrived, other companies had already moved on to more advanced applications.

It also did not help that not only did the iPhone maker partner with OpenAI to power some of the features, a move which was considered a first for the company, but it also had to recall its AI Notification Summaries feature due to error-laden execution. To add to its troubles, Apple was not able to deliver on the promise of a revamped AI-powered Siri. It still has not.

But The Information claims that despite a disastrous 2024 and a slow 2025, the next year will be the turning point for the company. The publication says that Apple has already built a solid infrastructure with the Private Cloud Compute (PCC) and NPU-enabled chipset in devices geared for AI workloads. The company's focus on building partnerships with AI companies is also labelled as strategic. Notably, apart from OpenAI, the tech giant is reportedly working with Anthropic and is in talks with Google.

The publication's argument is that, with all of these parts in place, an experienced AI team (albeit losing a senior director) that has produced several papers on innovation and is bolstered by new partnerships, the company can now focus on churning out features and products. It is said that Apple's turning point will be spring 2026, when the tech giant finally releases the much-anticipated Siri. But for the rest of the roadmap, one can only hope.