Is Apple Looking To Catch Up In AI With Big Deal?

Apple's (AAPL) slow response to the ubiquitous artificial intelligence megatrend has been a drag on Apple stock. But the consumer electronics giant could be looking to catch up with rivals through a major acquisition or partnership, according to news reports.

Bloomberg reported late Friday that Apple executives have held internal discussions about potentially bidding for startup Perplexity AI to gain AI talent and technology.

↑ X NOW PLAYING Apple's AI Ambitions: Are Investors Losing Patience?

The acquisition of Perplexity would help Apple develop an AI-based search engine, the report said.

However, Apple historically has been loath to make big acquisitions. Its biggest-ever deal was the $3 billion purchase of Beats in 2014. And Perplexity recently completed an investment round that valued it at $14 billion.

Alternatively, Apple could choose to partner with Perplexity instead of acquiring it, Bloomberg said.

The interest in Perplexity comes after Apple discussed a potential deal earlier this year with AI startup Thinking Machines Lab, founded by OpenAI's former chief technology officer, Mira Murati. Those talks never progressed to an advanced stage, Bloomberg said.

Rosenblatt Securities analyst Barton Crockett called the Apple-Perplexity talks "provocative."

In a client note Monday, Crockett said the report is consistent with the view that Apple will need a backup plan if a pending antitrust case blocks its lucrative search deal with Alphabet (GOOGL) unit Google. Under that deal, Apple gets about $20 billion a year from Alphabet for Google to be the default search engine on Apple devices.

Apple Stock Down Year To Date

On the stock market today, Apple stock climbed 0.3% to close at 201.50.

Year to date, Apple stock is down 19.5%.

Apple has been slow to release AI features for the iPhone and other hardware. At the company's WWDC 2025 conference, the company announced incremental software updates to its device operating systems.

Meanwhile, Apple's Big Tech peers have been investing heavily in cloud data centers for AI applications and striking deals with top AI companies.

Microsoft (MSFT) has a partnership with OpenAI. Google and Amazon.com (AMZN) are backing Anthropic. And Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META) is investing $14.3 billion in Scale AI for a 49% stake in the startup.

Follow Patrick Seitz on X at @IBD_PSeitz for more stories on consumer technology, software and semiconductor stocks.

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