Apple Has Bought More AI Companies Than Its Main Rivals Since 2016
Apple fell further and further behind other tech giants like Google and Facebook over the course of a number of years when it came to incorporating the most recent artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies into its products.
Nevertheless, that has changed over the course of the previous half decade. According to information that was made public by GlobalData, between the years 2016 and 2020, Apple was the technological behemoth that acquired the greatest number of AI businesses.
By doing so, you defeat competitors such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Accenture, all of which also claim a high number of acquisitions in this field.
Plenty of AI Mergers and Acquisitions
Emotient, Tuplejump Software, Turi, Flyby Media, Glimpse, Lattice Data, Pop Up Archive, RealFace, Shazam, DeskConnect, Silk Labs, Drive.ai, Asaii, Inductive, Subverse, and XNOR.ai are just some of the companies that Apple has acquired. Others include Tuplejump Software, RealFace, and Shazam.
Additionally, see: What Is Apple’s Vision? Any Signs of Apples? What Will Apple Call Its New Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Headset?
According to this listing, Apple made approximately five acquisitions each year on average, with 2017 being its slowest season and having seven acquisitions documented in the field of artificial intelligence. In total, Apple made acquisitions of approximately 25 AI-related companies over the course of the time period.
On the other hand, the fact that Apple does not promote all of its acquisitions suggests that additional companies could be acquired without Apple-knowledge. watcher’s
Apple’s acquisition of a number of startups has resulted in the creation of a number of new businesses, the majority of which are on the smaller side and less well-known than others. The one possible exception to this is the ever-useful music recognition service Shazam. Nevertheless, all can significantly improve Apple hardware and software by incorporating higher levels of intelligence into a variety of Apple products.
According to Nicklas Nilsson, Senior Analyst on the GlobalData Thematic Research Team, here is what they found:
Apple has been on a purchasing binge recently in an effort to play catch-up with competitors Google (Google Assistant) and Amazon (Alexa). Siri was available on the current market, but it consistently ranks lower than both of them regarding smartness. This is a contributing factor to Apple’s significant revenue deficit in the intelligent speaker market. In addition to this, Apple needs to ensure that it maintains its dominant position in the wearables market. It is by far the most important player in the smartwatch market. The acquisition of Xnor.ai was completed in the previous year with the purpose of increasing its on-edge processing capacities. This is becoming increasingly important as it eliminates the need for information to be transmitted to the cloud, which in turn improves data privacy.
Apple Is Working Hard to Win the Artificial Intelligence Race
Simply making purchases of companies in the AI industry is not enough to ensure Apple’s victory in the AI race.
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But this diverse array of acquisitions, along with Apple’s ongoing hiring of top-notch AI engineers such as generative adversarial network (GAN) leader Ian Goodfellow in 2019, reveals that Apple is eager to grab – and perhaps even overtake – a few of its competitors in this critically important field of technology. Apple has been making a number of acquisitions in recent years, including DeepMind, which was acquired by Apple in 2018.
It remains to be seen whether or not it is successful in accomplishing this goal. However, this is a positive sign for customers who want better and more sophisticated products.