Apple said on Thursday it was getting more serious about its plans to catch up in the AI ​​race. "We believe artificial intelligence is one of the most far-reaching technologies in our lifetime. We are integrating it into our devices, our platforms and across our company. We are also significantly increasing our investment," CEO Tim Cook said during a third-quarter 2025 earnings call with investors. "Apple has always been committed to taking the most advanced technology and making it easy to use for everyone, which is at the core of our artificial intelligence strategy."

Cook expanded on those comments during the call, noting that Apple is "reallocating a significant number of people" to focus on artificial intelligence. He added: "We have a really good team and we're going to give it our all."

Investments in artificial intelligence have also driven growth in capital spending, which has increased so far this year, the company said. However, Apple pointed out that it still uses a hybrid model that relies on third parties for capital investment, so capital expenditures will not increase exponentially.

In an interview with CNBC ahead of its earnings call, the company said it was open to mergers and acquisitions to accelerate its growth plans. The company told the outlet it has acquired seven companies this year. Cook said none of the companies were "huge" in terms of dollar amounts.

He added on the call that Apple makes an acquisition every few weeks. Apple has been criticized for being caught off guard by the AI ​​era; it announced a series of AI features but has so far failed to implement them. The company has even been accused of showing off an AI-enhanced version of Siri that wasn't ready for release. But Apple defends itself by saying it doesn’t need to rush things — it’s a mistake to launch the wrong features or the wrong products just to get ahead. This is especially true when these products fail to deliver the results promised.

So far, Apple says it has launched more than 20 Apple Intelligence features, including visual intelligence, cleaning and writing tools.

Later this year, Apple plans to launch AI features like real-time translation and an AI fitness partner, but more personalized Siri improvements have been delayed until 2026. During a conference call with investors, Cook said the company was "making good progress" on Siri updates.

He also shared his thoughts on how artificial intelligence (AI) could impact the iPhone business if new hardware emerges. For example, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this week that AI glasses will become a vehicle for interacting with new technologies, and those who don't have them will be left behind.

Cook naturally disagrees. "It's hard to imagine a world without iPhones," he said. "That doesn't mean we're not looking at other things, but I think (AI) devices are likely to be complementary devices rather than substitutes."

The executive declined to answer questions about which AI technologies he believed would eventually be commoditized, saying that would reveal part of his strategy.

Apple's third-quarter iPhone sales were better than expected and revenue hit a record high, sending its shares sharply higher in after-hours trading.