• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer, Yesterday

The scale of any advertising product relies on the size of active devices it can run on. 

During its earnings call this week, Apple CFO Kevan Parekh said the number of active devices -- from iPhone to Mac to wearables -- in the March 2026 quarter reached all-time highs, totaling more than 2.5 billion users.

Ads will become more important to Apple this year as the company builds on the types of devices and services it offers.

Prepare to see Apple turn into an advertising machine. Some users may not like it, but Wall Street and investors will.

So will advertisers, as Apple’s products become increasingly sophisticated and ad units increase in numbers.

It's important to note that Apple reported its Services segment -- which includes the introduction of paid ads in Apple Maps for the U.S. and Canada -- and new App Store ad inventory contributed to advertising revenue growth, along with AI and agentic development.

There will come a time when its entertainment business, with Apple TV and devices supported by online, will become more closely aligned in terms of AI and advertising.

For brands preparing to run ads through Apple's Maps ad unit announced earlier this year, the percentage of users on Apple’s devices becomes very important.

Consumers in higher-income demographics in the United States tend to use iPhones. They search mostly for queries related to travel, food services, retail, and hospitality. 

The number of Apple iPhone users is estimated to reach 53.4% of the mobile phone market this year — up slightly from 53.2%, according to Emarketer.

The research firm also released numbers showing the percentage of Apple Watch wearers is estimated to dip this year to 7% vs. 8.1% in 2025. But the number of users continues to rise — an estimated 48 million wearers in 2026 vs. 38.1 million in 2025.

The same up and down motion continues with retail ecommerce sales. Apple experienced a peak in 2025 with 14.7% of the market, but this year that estimate reaches $44.64 million vs 13.6% and $50.72 million, respectively.

Apple’s future in advertising relies on devices, and the question becomes whether “incoming CEO John Ternus can translate this momentum into a credible AI strategy, particularly as the Google Gemini partnership for Siri signals Apple's willingness to lean on external AI innovators,” Jacob Bourne, senior tech analyst at Emarketer, wrote in a brief.

Apple Business is a complete platform for payments and advertising, and the advertising hub from which Maps Ads are created and managed.

Announced in March, the underlying business management platform launched on April 14, 2026, and the ads launch this summer in U.S. and Canada.

It will become a turning point for Apple with the transition of CEOs. Incoming CEO John Ternus has an engineering background. If that does not seem significant, note that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai both have a background in engineering.

Ternus has a mechanical engineering degree and focuses on devices, whereas outgoing CEO Tim Cook holds an industrial engineering degree. The primary difference lies in their focus.

Mechanical engineering centers on the design and creation of physical machines and systems, while industrial engineering focuses on optimizing the processes and systems that involve people and technology.

Please note, if you have read to the end of this column, the predictions not attributed to Apple are mine.