Change of strategy: Why the new Apple boss Ternus should be able to invest more money

As part of the announcement of his impending departure, Tim Cook is said to have summarized the biggest missteps of his 15-year tenure as Apple CEO. This included the launch of Apple Maps and the failed development of a self-driving car and the Airpower charging station.

A trillion dollars for shareholders

On the plus side, a lot may have also come together. Under Cook, Apple has returned more than $1 trillion to shareholders via buybacks and dividends. The $348 billion company became a four trillion dollar company.

Until now, Apple has applied the net cash neutrality policy initiated by Cook, i.e. the obligation to keep cash and debt roughly in balance. Apple is likely to abandon this formal goal, as CFO Kevan Parekh explained at the quarterly conference at the end of April 2026.

Apple: More money for investments

According to Parekh, this means that cash and debt will be valued independently of each other in the future. As The Next Web writes, this suggests that Apple will have more money available for investment in the coming months and years. This money could go into acquisitions or AI infrastructure.

Evercore analyst Amit Daryanani sees the change in strategy as a sign that Apple wants to “do more business and invest money differently.” Apple has fallen behind in the current AI race among tech companies. Meta, for example, has increased its capital expenditure for 2026 to up to $145 billion, and Alphabet is spending up to $190 billion on AI infrastructure.

Be more careful with generative AI

Apple has invested in Apple Intelligence and the conversion of Siri into an AI assistant with its own app under iOS 27. However, Apple does not have a large-scale strategy for building an AI cloud infrastructure like its competitors, as The Next Web writes. Apple has also been more cautious when it comes to generative AI.

The new financial opportunities for Ternus currently include around $54 billion in cash reserves. In the future, the Apple CEO should be able to decide on a quarterly basis how much of Apple’s cash goes back to shareholders and how much remains in the company to finance acquisitions or investments.

No complete abandonment of buyback policy

However, this is not a complete departure from the previous buyback policy. During the quarterly conference, a further share buyback amounting to $100 billion was approved. In addition, the dividend was increased by four percent to 27 cents per share.