For its Q3 2025 earnings, Apple pocketed a sizable $23.4 billion from the $94.04 billion revenue it generated during this period, meaning that the company is sitting on a cash pile that is the size of a mountain. Typically, these funds are utilized for acquisitions, but looking at the California-based giant’s lack of progress in generative AI, having tons of money to throw around can solve some problems. For instance, there have been talks of acquiring Perplexity, which can give Apple the edge against the likes of OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, and countless others, but the company’s focus is currently on the smaller-scale firms.
Analysts have recommended that Apple acquire Perplexity for $40 billion, but despite the cash on hand, the iPhone maker sticks with picking smaller companies
During the quarterly earnings call, CNBC reported that Apple had $133 billion in cash over the period of June. While the aforementioned revenue might have pleased investors, there is no denying that some of them would be showing concern that the company has yet to show meaningful results in AI. Fortunately, Apple CEO Tim Cook has stated that investments are significantly growing, but on the topic of acquiring companies to fuel its artificial intelligence goals, throwing billions is not something Apple has had practice of.
Instead, the report mentions that the trillion-dollar entity has acquired ‘around’ seven companies so far this year, and none of them are stamped with a huge dollar amount. The most expensive acquisition so far has been Beats, with Apple paying $3 billion for it. With Perplexity, analysts have stated that the Cupertino firm should fork over $40 billion and obtain an advantage in generative AI. With its $133 billion cash pile, Perplexity can be acquired three times over, but why would Apple immediately switch its long-term approach of picking up smaller companies?
As for those acquired this year, there are no details if any of them were focused on generative AI, but many industry naysayers are convinced that Apple’s internal teams cannot scale the obstacles required to introduce services, products or features that rival chatbots like ChatGPT. For the time being, it does not appear that Apple will pick up Perplexity, but we could witness a massive surprise in the coming months.
