Apple's $100B buybacks vs. low-teens capex: why Apple now follows instead of inventing
ryanorban · x · 2026-09-16
A pointed analysis of Apple's strategy shift: Jobs built categories, Cook built the cash machine — but the machine is eating itself. Watch and AirPods were the last clean wins; since then Apple followed Google into cars (canceled), Meta into headsets (stranded at $3,500), and ChatGPT into Siri. The math: tens of billions in buybacks vs. low-teens capex — Apple funds prototypes but not the decade after them.
More from Companies & People
- Periodic Labs' Neon, trained on 1,300 H200s, beats GPT-6 Astra on materials analysis — LiamFedus · 2026-09-16
- Musk reportedly living in Airstream trailer while overseeing SpaceXAI's Memphis data center buildout — Polymarket · 2026-09-16
- OpenAI Foundation Launches Public Data for Health with $125M in Initial Grants — owl_posting · 2026-09-16
- OpenAI Foundation commits $125M+ to Public Data for Health scientific datasets — CarissaVeliz · 2026-09-16
- Robotics startup Weave is hiring across research, engineering and manufacturing — andrew_n_carr · 2026-09-16
- Instacart founder hiring Head of Technical Investing after betting on Cognition and SSI — ericjang11 · 2026-09-16