Tim Cook Suggests Possible Purchase of AI Firm to Strengthen Apple’s AI Functionality
During this week’s earnings call for the third quarter, Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, disclosed that the company might look to acquire an AI firm to enhance its Apple Intelligence platform. Earlier reports indicated that Perplexity could be viewed as an ideal collaborator.
In comparison to other significant entities, Perplexity AI would represent the most sensible choice for acquisition. Although it would probably be the largest purchase Apple has ever undertaken, given its current valuation of $18 billion, it may be a logical move, as the corporation has had difficulties staying competitive due to significant delays affecting Apple Intelligence and Siri.
Notably, Beats has been Apple’s most successful investment thus far, having paid $3 billion for the audio brand in 2014. Nevertheless, Tim Cook stated that the company remains committed to heavily investing in AI, viewing it as “one of the most profound technologies of our lifetime.” Tim Cook remarked to CNBC, “We are significantly growing our investments. We’re embedding it across our devices, across our platforms, and across the company.”
Apple’s Acquisitions in 2025
In contrast to some of its prominent rivals, Apple hasn’t made any pioneering acquisitions in the last year. Nonetheless, Tim Cook pointed out that Apple has acquired “around” seven companies in 2025, but none have been “huge in terms of dollar amount.” For example, at the end of May, Digital Trends reported that Apple had secured the video game studio RAC7.
The CEO of Apple also mentioned that the firm is “open to M&A (mergers and acquisitions) that accelerates our roadmap.” Given the sluggish output in recent years and the number of promising initiatives that have been abandoned, this isn’t particularly surprising. It’s also important to recognize that even when Apple acquires a company, immediate changes for end users may not follow.
For instance, Apple took a couple of years to incorporate Dark Sky into the Weather app. More recently, after acquiring Pixelmator, the company has kept the app unchanged, having just added Apple Intelligence support for the editor. Therefore, even if Apple were to acquire Perplexity AI today, we would likely still be at least a year away from observing significant changes on the Apple Intelligence platform.
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