Got $25,000? Apple vs Microsoft- Only One Tech Titan is Winning The AI Race

1 hour ago 2

Vandita Jadeja

Mon, May 11, 2026 astatine 7:41 AM CDT 3 min read

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Apple (AAPL) reported Q2 FY26 gross of $111.18B, up 16.6% YoY, with iPhone gross hitting $57B and Services reaching a grounds $30.98B.
Microsoft (MSFT) posted $82.89B gross increasing 18.3% and Azure 40%, backed by a $627B commercialized backlog increasing 99% and 20M Copilot paid seats up 250% YoY. Microsoft is guiding 2026 capex to astir $190B portion Apple is lifting buyback authorization by $100B and keeping AI walk disciplined.
Microsoft is monetizing generative AI astatine standard contiguous with a $37B AI yearly tally complaint increasing 123%, portion Apple is embedding AI much gradually crossed devices arsenic hardware features, resulting successful divergent superior strategies focused connected enlargement versus shareholder returns.
The expert who called NVIDIA successful 2010 conscionable named his apical 10 stocks and Apple wasn't 1 of them. Get them present FREE.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) reported net little than 24 hours isolated successful precocious April. Apple delivered a grounds March 4th powered by the iPhone 17 cycle. Microsoft posted an AI yearly gross tally complaint of $37 billion, up 123%. Both beat. Only 1 is monetizing generative AI astatine standard today.

iPhone 17 Carries Apple. Azure and Copilot Carry Microsoft.

Apple's Q2 FY26 gross deed $111.18 billion, up 16.6% twelvemonth implicit year, with diluted EPS of $2.01 versus $1.94 consensus. iPhone unsocial produced $57 billion, up 22% YoY, portion Services deed a grounds $30.98 billion. Tim Cook framed AI arsenic embedded crossed the experience: "This is not AI arsenic a standalone feature, but AI arsenic an essential, intuitive portion of the acquisition crossed our devices." That is simply a slower, hardware-anchored story.

The expert who called NVIDIA successful 2010 conscionable named his apical 10 stocks and Apple wasn't 1 of them. Get them present FREE.

Microsoft's 4th pushed harder. Revenue of $82.89 cardinal grew 18.3%, EPS came successful astatine $4.27 vs $4.07, and Azure grew 40%. Microsoft 365 Copilot paid seats crossed 20 million, up 250% YoY, with Accenture unsocial deploying implicit 740,000 seats. The contracted backlog (commercial RPO) sits astatine $627 billion, up 99%.

Capital Return Versus Capacity Build

Lens	Apple	Microsoft
Core AI bet	On-device Apple Intelligence	Azure positive agentic Copilot
Quarterly capex	Modest, hardware-led	$30.88B, up 84.39%
Shareholder return	$100B buyback, 4% dividend hike	Reinvestment implicit buybacks
P/E	38	31

Satya Nadella told investors Microsoft has "a frontier exemplary royalty-free with each the IP rights... each the mode to '32" done the restructured OpenAI deal. Calendar 2026 capex is guided to astir $190 billion. Apple is going the different direction, lifting buyback authorization by $100 cardinal portion keeping AI walk disciplined. Two precise antithetic bets connected what the adjacent decennary rewards.

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