With the exception of two events, this was a relatively quiet week for both the Fab Five (-$120 billion) and the Telco Top Five (-$23 billion). Those events had nothing to do with war, protests, or even macroeconomic reports.
Apple accounts for $112 billion of the $120 billion loss for the Fab Five. They held their annual Worldwide Developer Conference last week, and everything we linked to (Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman deserves all of the credit) in the previous Brief was announced. Unfortunately, this means that there was no “One more thing” or additional insights into Apple Intelligence. There was, however, this terrific interview of Craig Federighi and Joz Joswiak by Joanna Stern of The Wall Street Journal:
What is most apparent from their discussion is that they are redesigning iOS to be AI-first. That is not a small task. Many times in the interview, Joz makes the statement “this is not a chatbot.” We take this to mean that iOS needs to be redesigned to be more intelligent (and personalized). The video helps investors realize how encompassing AI is becoming at Apple – it’s center stage.
The second event was the announcement through a German newspaper that T-Mobile USA CEO Mike Sievert might leave earlier than 2028 (Reuters article here). We are not going to speculate on what could happen, but remind all parties of what’s on the T-Mobile plate:
- US Cellular acquisition and integration (2H 2025 into 2026)
- Metronet deal closure and integration (as needed) with Lumos (2H 2025 into 2026)
- Continued integration of Mint and strengthening of prepaid
- Implementation of digitization initiatives outlined at Capital Markets Day
- Continued growth of T-Mobile for Business (including T-Priority)
- Managing the next Apple launch (featuring a thin phone if current reports are true)
While no time is a good time for a CEO transition, the introduction of Srini Gopalan as COO helps spread the workload while he learns the operation from a ground (as opposed to a boardroom) level. We are hopeful that the German owners carefully consider any transition plan and minimize communication until everything is finalized.
File is below. Full Brief next week will be focused on 2Q Earnings questions.
