“Across Amazon, each of our teams is working to create generative AI applications that reinvent and improve the experience of their customers,” Chief Executive Andy Jassy said on a conference call.
Apple sees AI and machine learning as “essential foundational technologies that are integral to virtually every product we build,” company boss Tim Cook told analysts when discussing the iPhone maker’s quarterly results.
“It’s absolutely critical for us,” Cook said of AI.
He cited crash detection and other iPhone features as technologies that “wouldn’t be possible without AI and machine learning.” Collision detection presents the user with a prompt for an emergency call if a handset detects a collision.
“We’ve been researching a wide range of AI technologies, including generative AI, for years,” Cook said.
“We will continue to invest, innovate and responsibly advance our products with these technologies.”
Apple posted slightly higher profits in the latest quarter despite a further drop in revenue as a record performance in services offset lower iPhone sales.
Executives highlighted increased sales in China and several key emerging markets that helped offset declines in the United States where iPhone sales declined amid a saturated smartphone environment.
Apple’s fiscal third-quarter earnings were $19.9 billion, up 2.3% from the same period last year. Revenue fell again, this time 1.4% to $81.8 billion, the third consecutive quarter with a year-over-year decline.
Bright spots for the tech giant included a “record high” in services revenue, including the App Store, Apple Pay and Apple TV and other subscription services.
AI for everyone?
Amazon posted quarterly profit that beat market expectations, driven by strong sales helped by its annual Prime discount event.
The e-commerce giant said it made a profit of $6.7 billion in the last quarter, eclipsing earnings forecasts.
“It was another solid quarter of progress for Amazon,” the company’s chief executive, Andy Jassy, said in an earnings statement.
The e-commerce colossus boasted that it held its “biggest Prime Day event” in July, with subscribers to the Amazon service worldwide ordering more than 375 million items.
Order delivery speeds in the United States were the fastest on record as Amazon continued to work to optimize efficiency and reduce costs in fulfillment centers, according to the company.
Jassy presented a plan in March to cut 9,000 more jobs from the online retail giant’s workforce, after the 18,000 cut in January.
Jassy told his employees at the time that the additional layoffs were necessary as the company sought a way to reduce its workforce after years of hiring supported by the Seattle-based company.
“Amazon’s resumption of business activity is an encouraging sign for the second half of the year,” said Insider Intelligence senior analyst Andrew Lipsman.
Revenue generated by Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing unit increased to $22 billion year-over-year, but costs also increased, driving a bottom line lower than the same period in 2022.
“Our AWS growth has stabilized as customers have begun to move from cost optimization to deploying new workloads,” Jassy said.
“AWS continued to build its significant leadership position in the cloud with a host of generative AI releases.”
AWS remains a concern, however, and pressure is on to show growth as the broader economy recovers and companies invest in cloud-based computing power, according to analyst Lipsman.
Amazon is seeing more companies focus on moving systems to the cloud, where they can save money and leverage AI capabilities, Jassy said on the earnings call.
AWS is investing heavily to be a place where AI models are trained and put to work for businesses, according to Jassy.
“What we’re doing is democratizing access to generative AI; reducing the cost of training and running models,” Jassy said.
“We believe AWS is poised to be the long-term mainstream AI partner of choice.”
Amazon shares rose more than 8% to $140.25 after market trades.
