Asymco Bulletin 025 - August 9, 2026
by asymco-admin
Asymco Bulletin is a digest of all the work we have published for the week ending Aug 9, 2026.
Research
Apple Vision Pro in Surgery: A New Paper
It was an honor to collaborate with the UC San Diego Shiley Eye Institute team on a new paper in AJO International evaluating Apple Vision Pro as the primary display for endoscopic lacrimal surgery. The results: 19% shorter operative times, 100% functional success, lower surgeon workload, and every participating surgeon preferring it. My contribution measured cost and space, where the headset is less than 1% of the cost of conventional OR visualization and smaller than almost any piece of equipment. Criticized in consumer contexts as too big and too expensive, in the operating room the Vision Pro is very small and very cheap. →
Office Hours
Apple 2026 FQ3 Review: The Presentation — Asymco Office Hours, 31 July 2026 → Apple’s best quarter in years, albeit with a warning label. Revenue up 16%, EPS up 29% with an 11 cent tariff refund nobody modeled, and the Mac up 29%, double expectations. Guidance drops growth to about 10% because demand ran double Apple’s own plan and supply, especially silicon, could not keep up; Tim Cook conceded the planning mistake. Inside: 1.5 billion paid subscriptions on the ACTIVE trajectory, R&D nearing 10% of sales, three visits to 40 times earnings, and every Apple Upgrade lease priced to the penny, still a dollar a day. →
Apple’s guidance: in six months there will be a new set of worries → Joseph B. asked what is up with the guidance and why it was news to Mr. Market. Apple got caught in the AI rotation as a safe harbor, a role management never sought, and the 10% one-day drop was unwarranted by what was reported: a very strong quarter with unusual circumstances in foreign exchange and supply. Nobody talks about memory anymore even though the price increases were a month ago. In six months this will be forgotten and there will be a new set of worries. →
The foldable iPhone: what will it be good for? → Frederick H. asked what job a foldable iPhone accomplishes. I don’t have that job myself; I carry an iPad mini and never reach for it when the iPhone is in hand. But I was wrong once before, insisting phones should stay one-handed while the market chose the Max, so maybe we need to try it before we learn what it is for. Samsung’s folds have gone nowhere in six years, yet showing you could buy one may drive the first quarters, and if it opens into an iPad mini it becomes an experiment in having your iPad in your pocket. →
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