Apple Unveils First Foldable iPhone Duo at $1,999 Under CEO John Ternus

Meta Platforms shares jumped 4.3% in the afternoon session after the company's Meta Connect event showcased new hardware and deeper Muse AI distribution beyond the phone. According to Meta's Connect 2026 recap, the company is bringing Muse to its AI glasses so users can interact with the agent hands-free throughout the day, and it showed Muse updates including new features, connectors, and a state-of-the-art model. Meta also unveiled its widest AI-glasses lineup yet across Ray-Ban, Oakley, and Meta Glasses, including first-ever Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses, and said more than 100 AI-glasses styles are planned by year-end. Separately, CNBC reported that CEO Mark Zuckerberg debuted $1,299 Meta VR Glasses for spring 2027 and a Muse Charm pendant planned for holiday shipping, extending Meta's AI-agent push into wearables. The shares were trading at $778.88, up 4.6% from the previous close, and Meta is up 19.8% since the beginning of the year, setting a new 52-week high.

Meta has launched a secretive, keychain-sized AI device with a camera and microphone, shipping months ahead of OpenAI's rumored rival. The device, called the Muse Charm, was revealed a day after the meteoric rise of Meta's Muse, according to host Ejaaz Ahamadeen, who broke down the news from Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii. The announcement came alongside the biggest stories of the week from Meta Connect and beyond. No pricing, release date, or sales figures were disclosed.

CLSA's Bhavtosh Vajpayee said the AI semiconductor cycle will not peak in 2028, calling that expectation "utterly wrong" and projecting the current chip shortage will persist until roughly 2030. Speaking to CNBC on Wednesday, Vajpayee said demand for GPUs and custom AI chips currently exceeds supply by about 73%, and he expects upstream semiconductor and hardware companies to benefit as the shortage worsens alongside expanding AI infrastructure spending. He also noted that large semiconductor companies trade at lower valuation multiples than many other parts of the AI ecosystem. Vajpayee highlighted Meta's Muse as a notable recent development for making AI agent creation easier through simple language commands, and said similar advances should emerge in China, where companies including Alibaba are developing smaller AI models. He pointed to Apple as particularly important because smartphones already sit at the center of consumers' daily lives and could become the primary gateway for accessing AI services, while CLSA sees clearer opportunities in AI hardware suppliers than among model developers, where he said it remains too early to determine the eventual winners.