Apple's AI Advantage Under Threat as Meta's Muse Takes Hold

Bank of America has warned Apple investors that the company could lose ground in the AI market without losing a single iPhone sale. Analyst Wamsi Mohan said that whoever owns the decision point for AI agents will collect the routing economics, previously accrued to operating systems, search engines, and app stores.

Mohan pointed to Meta's Muse assistant as an example of this shift. Muse is a personal AI agent capable of sending emails, booking travel, handling purchases, and coordinating a user's schedule largely on its own. It has already reached the number one spot on Apple's U.S. App Store chart within two weeks of launch.

Bank of America does not expect Muse to generate meaningful revenue from ads, subscriptions, or commissions before 2028. The near-term threat to Apple is about changes in user behavior, specifically where consumers form purchase intent.