Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is set to unveil its iPhone 17 lineup later Tuesday, with Wedbush analysts pointing to a likely price increase for the flagship models as production shifts from China to India.
The brokerage also emphasized that attention will be on Apple’s artificial intelligence initiatives, with Alphabet Inc’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google Gemini considered a potential partner for AI integration on the iPhone.
Wedbush projects that the iPhone Pro and Pro Max models could see a price rise of $50 to $100 due to the focus on Indian production.
“…the majority of iPhones sold in the US are now being made in India rather than in China and expected to be a ~$1 billion headwind in the September quarter,” Wedbush analysts said in a note.
The firm expects Apple to introduce a new iPhone 17 model called the Air, replacing the previous Plus version. Across the new models, improvements are anticipated in cameras, battery capacity, charging speed, and the upgraded A19 chip.
Wedbush noted that uncertainty over Apple’s AI strategy has weighed on its shares, despite the company having one of the world’s largest installed consumer bases—approximately 4.3 billion iOS devices globally.
“The time is now for Apple to accelerate its AI efforts through outside partnerships or an acquisition of Perplexity,” Wedbush said.
Apple recently benefited from an antitrust ruling against Google, which allows it to continue using Google as the default search engine, while also enabling increased collaboration between the two tech giants, potentially including AI initiatives.
Wedbush maintains an Outperform rating on Apple with a $270 price target. The company’s shares are down 2.5% year-to-date but have recovered much of their earlier losses.
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