It's going to be a blockbuster week for tech earnings ahead with Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Apple, all set to report.

Shares of the iPhone maker essentially flat since last quarter as investors now look for a clearer AI strategy.

Our Steve Kovac digs into what's at stake for Apple in today's tech check.

Happy Friday, Steve.

Yeah, hey there, Carl.

So we do have those earnings from Apple coming Thursday.

And it could be a catalyst for that second worst-performing Mag 7 stock of year, down nearly 15% year today. Only Tesla is doing worse. Now, the company has two major headwinds thanks to tariffs and its failure to deliver on artificial intelligence this year, not to mention losing some top AI talent in Mark Zuckerberg's poaching spree this summer.

So something I'm going to be paying attention to, though, is the guidance.

And what that tells us about the next crop of iPhones expected to launch in the last few weeks of that September quarter,

the guidance is going to reflect that new launch.

So if that number comes in pretty spicy, let's say in the high single-digit

percentage of revenue growth, you can look at it as first. Apple may be increasing iPhone prices,

in part to mitigate tariffs, but also because the base model of the iPhone has been the same price

since 2019. It could also be a signal that Apple thinks it has a new hit coming with that

so-called iPhone air, that rumored super slim design for the next iPhone, and that tracks with

historical bumps in iPhone sales. Forget about Apple intelligence, which failed to spur that

super cycle in iPhone sales. The Bulls predicted would happen last year. Instead, it's actually

fresh designs that get people excited to upgrade. Here's Verizon CEO Hans Vesberg talking about

just that on Squackbox earlier this week. The times when we have growth in people changing the

phones are two. It's one you go from 3D to 40, 40 to 5G or hardware

redesign. Now any wireless CEO will tell you exactly that pattern and you can see it in 2014

when Apple added bigger screens to the iPhone or in 2020 when it added 5G alongside another

...