In September 2025, the season that should be a technology carnival, the global attention has once again focused on Apple's autumn new product launch conference. However, when the curtain falls, what we see is not a disruptive innovation, but more like a regular annual summary of existing products. If last year's press conference was Apple trying to use the blockbuster "Apple Intelligence" to declare its entry into the AI field, then this year's press conference is more like a slightly conservative and lacking innovative product iteration, both in the highly-watched integration with Google Gemini and the AIization of Apple's own Siri, which is lacking in quality. This made industry insiders a little disappointed and also made the capital market's imagination of its future question.
From the overall rhythm, this press conference, which lasted 75 minutes, has given me some subtle upgrades to the hardware. The new iPhone 17 series, Apple Watch Series 11, and AirPods Pro 3 have made improvements in design, performance and functionality, but these improvements, as many people have commented, are more like the expected "toothpaste squeeze" update. The iPhone 17 Air debuted with its "thintest in history" attitude, trying to seek breakthroughs in shape, but it is still an unknown number of how many users it can attract from its thinness and thin camera compromise and performance trade-offs. The iPhone 17 Pro/Pro Max's improvement in imaging systems is more like a catching up with the Android camp's years of efforts in computing photography rather than leading.
It is particularly worth noting that this press conference should be a critical moment for Apple to fully fulfill its AI promise. However, compared with the overwhelming appearance of last year's WWDC conference, the role of "Apple Intelligence" in this press conference was greatly reduced and almost became a backend auxiliary function of new hardware. Functions such as real-time translation and visual intelligence have been mentioned, but most of them are refinement and integration on last year's framework, without bringing any eye-catching new applications or new experiences. The 16-core neural engine and accelerator in the A19/A19 Pro chip have been repeatedly emphasized, but the AI capabilities it ultimately presents are more reflected in background processing and performance improvements, such as supporting local large language models to improve game experience, enhancing the photon engine effect, etc. These are all quietly carried out "behind the scenes" and failed to form a strong user perception.
This release strategy of "focusing on hardware and neglecting AI" seems a bit out of place with the current general trend of "AI is king" in the entire technology industry. As competitors such as Google, Microsoft and Samsung all accelerated their pace in the generic AI space and continued to launch amazing applications, Apple seemed to be a little slow. In the past, Apple was always able to integrate new technologies into user experience in a way that moistens things silently with its powerful software and hardware ecosystem integration capabilities. However, this time, this "silent" seems a bit too "invisible", which has caused the outside world to doubt that Apple is "left behind" in AI.
This kind of doubt is not groundless. After Apple's press conference, the capital market's reaction also confirmed this. Despite the gimmicks like "the thinnest iPhone in history", investors obviously value the company's long-term growth prospects and innovation capabilities. When the press conference fails to provide a sufficiently convincing AI story, market confidence will naturally be affected. Since last year, Buffett has continued to reduce his holdings, and Apple's stock price has been under continuous pressure. Not only is it facing antitrust investigations from the EU, but more importantly, its slow pace in the field of AI has made the gap between its competitors in market value and its competitors in terms of market value. The lack of highlights in this press conference is likely to further intensify this trend, resulting in continued pressure on its stock price for some time to come.
In short, this Apple conference is more like a routine for updates. It perfectly demonstrates Apple's deep foundation in hardware engineering, but fails to respond to the market's eager expectations for its leadership in the AI era. This reminds people of the Jobs era, the Apple that always brings surprises and subversion with "One more thing". Nowadays, when "Apple Intelligence" is only being used as an auxiliary tool, and when the biggest selling point of the product is only "thinner", we may be able to conclude that the huge Apple is experiencing an innovation bottleneck period, and how to break this bottleneck and find the "magic" that can lead the industry again will be the most severe challenge facing it.
