Jim Cramer vs. The AI Bears: Why Apple’s Consumer Ecosystem Remains Unbreakable

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Jim Cramer vs. The AI Bears: Why Apple’s Consumer Ecosystem Remains Unbreakable Syeda Seirut Javed Wed, July 22, 2026 at 3:23 AM EDT 3 min read Jim Cramer made his stance clear during Monday's Mad Money episode, confirming that his Charitable Trust is holding firm on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL ) despite relentless criticism from tech commentators. Rebuffing market anxiety over delayed AI features, Cramer argued: There is some real opportunity here, and I'm not blind to it. That said, let me tell you what we're doing. First, we are not touching the Trust's longstanding Apple position. The sharp knives are indeed out for the Apple, let's say, management from the tech intelligentsia. The intelligentsia say that Apple will miss the most important story of our lives: artificial intelligence. They lambaste Siri. They regard the lost opportunity as critical to Apple's failure for the next generation. Yet you know what? These same people are posting from their iPhone 17 Pro Max. You know what? They would rather slit their wrists than switch to Samsung... So in its core business, Apple's bulletproof, and they never spent much on AI in the first place. Addressing a $7 intra-day pullback, Cramer pointed out that Apple's deliberate refusal to match competitors' massive infrastructure spending actually protects shareholder value: I want you to think about this as you look at Apple, down seven bucks today. Did anyone switch to Samsung during this travesty of an AI issue? Did anyone say, that's it, I am sick of it, I'm sick of the 17 Pro Max; get me a Lenovo? Perhaps the cognoscenti wishes that Apple would spend $200 billion, maybe 70% on the data center structure and power, maybe give the rest of Google TPUs; maybe buy some expensive NVIDIA GPUs. As someone who owns Apple for my Charitable Trust, I actually like that they let Alphabet spend those billions of dollars on AI and then they've had Alphabet pay them a nominal sum so it was in the iPhone. The pros have a term for this Apple-Alphabet deal. You know what it's called? A great deal. Cramer's perspective aligns with institutional commentary ahead of Apple's July 30 earnings report. Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan maintained a Buy rating and $380 price target, projecting an earnings beat with $109 billion in revenue (+16% YoY) and $1.89 EPS. It is worth noting that this earnings call will mark Tim Cook's final appearance as CEO. While BofA warned of temporary hardware gross margin compression, modeling 36.8% in Q3 and 34.1% in Q4 due to component costs and staggered launch schedules, Mohan views the dip as transitory. He expects hardware margins to rebound to 38.5% in December, due to higher average selling prices on new lineup releases and potential tariff recoveries. Meanwhile, high-margin Services revenue is projected to grow 14% YoY, anchoring company profitability with steady 76.5% gross margins driven by iCloud expansion and licensing agreements. Insider Monkey's hedge fund data shows that Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock was held by 170 hedge funds in the first quarter of 2026, almost similar to the positioning in Q4 2025, and with Berkshire Hathaway as the biggest holder with shares worth $57.8 billion. While hedge fund interest in the stock is relatively lower as compared with major hyperscalers such as Amazon (353 hedge fund holders), Microsoft (282), and NVIDIA (275), Apple appears to have a solid investment case. We recently discussed the stock in contrast to the hyperscalers, as we reported how Apple stock offers a different way to bet on the future of AI . READ NEXT: 33 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 15 Stocks That Will Make You Rich in 10 Years Disclosure: None. Follow Insider Monkey on Google News .

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Jim Cramer reaffirmed his steadfast holding stance on Apple, defending its robust ecosystem and shareholder-friendly capital allocation strategy despite concerns over AI delays. Bank of America maintained its Buy rating and a $350 price target ahead of the July 30 earnings release, projecting revenue of $10.9 billion and EPS of $1.89. Investors should focus on high-margin growth in the services sector and partnership synergies with Alphabet, despite short-term margin pressures.

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