Apple, Meta, and Google are locked in a fierce battle to lead the next wave of AI, and they’ve recently increased their focus on hardware.

Apple has acquired a secretive Israeli start-up Q.AI whose technology can analyse facial expressions to understand “silent speech”, in one of the iPhone maker’s biggest ever acquisitions.

Apple earnings could show strong holiday iPhone demand, but rising memory costs could pose a problem for the tech giant’s outlook.

Apple AAPL 0.72% reported blowout iPhone sales and profits in the December quarter, but shares stayed flat after-hours because of investor concerns about rising costs.

That was well ahead of Wall Street’s expectations and the best December-quarter growth for Apple’s largest business segment in more than a decade.