Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has quietly been one of the better-performing stocks of 2026. It has risen about 25% so far in 2026, easily crushing the S&P 500‘s (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) 14% rise. But the question is: Is it still a good stock to buy compared to other big tech names?
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Want AI exposure? Apple doesn’t have it
Part of the reason why Apple’s stock has done so well so far this year is its lack of artificial intelligence (AI) exposure. While I personally think this is a bad strategy for Apple over the long term, not every investor does. The company is taking a very measured approach to AI, and in true Apple style, it’s once again a late arrival to the party.
Apple has taken its time to launch AI features in its ecosystem, and only recently introduced generative AI to Siri, its virtual assistant. However, the model behind Siri AI isn’t anything Apple developed in-house; it uses Google Gemini from Alphabet.
This decision could prove to be brilliant. After all, Apple has hardly spent anything on capital expenditures recently compared to Alphabet.
AAPL Capital Expenditures (TTM) data by YCharts
Alphabet has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on AI infrastructure and will continue to do so. Apple has spent practically nothing, and although it will need to pay to use Gemini, the cost of that over the next decade may not eclipse what Alphabet spent in a year on AI computing capacity. As a result, Apple may have a winning strategy here.
Furthermore, Apple may be developing a suite of AI products that it will offer on a monthly subscription basis. This would create a new revenue stream for Apple if users find the products worth paying for.
Once again, Apple would likely use someone else’s AI model, so its operating costs would be only marginally higher than those of funding massive data centers itself. However, because Apple cannot control the capabilities of another firm’s AI model, it may not be able to get exactly what it wants from AI.
We’ll see how Apple adopts AI, but because it isn’t spending big to build it out, investors have fallen in love with the stock again. While their enthusiasm for it isn’t necessarily misguided, it has caused Apple stock to swell to a premium valuation.
The question is, does it deserve it?
