Apple Car is a matter of 'when, not if,' claims analyst

Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives asserts that an Apple Car is coming, and predicts that it will be by 2026.

Apple has yet to even acknowledge the rumors that it is developing an Apple Car. Yet it's an open secret since the company has applied for at least hundreds of related patents, down to a recent one concerning seatbelts.

The company has also been recently linked to a self-driving test facility in Arizona. Plus there have been periodic reports of major staff changes on the project, such as losing managers, engineers, or even a shakeup of the whole team.

Speaking to CNBC on Friday morning, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives says the only question over the Apple Car is "when, not if."

Ives has actually said that exact phrase before. Back in 2021, he wrote in a note to investors that it was a matter of "when not if" Apple would enter the electric vehicle market.

Wedbush's Ives was responding to reports at the time of Apple's various discussions with potential car partners, such as Hyundai, or separately Nissan.

The analyst described these discussions as a "dating game." He said then — February 2021 — that there was at least an 85% chance of Apple formally announcing a strategic car partnership within the following three to six months.

That obviously didn't happen, but now Ives predicts an Apple Car launch by 2026. That backs up some previous reports by Ming-Chi Kuo that said a projected 2025 launch date had fallen behind.

Even in 2021, though, Apple had reportedly been working on a car for many years. It's possible that it started in 2014, which would mean before the first Apple Watch was released, though there could now easily be a decade of work put into the still unannounced Apple Car.

33 Comments

red oak 1104 comments · 13 Years

About 1 year ago

It does not matter how long they have been working on it and how much R&D dollars they have sunk into it. They will not launch it if they are not 100% all-in.

Launching it just because they’ve worked on it for long time would be against Apple’s DNA

iOS_Guy80 905 comments · 5 Years

I’m ready to pre-order.

jeffharris 851 comments · 22 Years

Does the world REALLY need another car? Apple or otherwise.

danielchow 148 comments · 19 Years

jeffharris said:

Does the world REALLY need another car? Apple or otherwise.

nope, we do not need another car. what we need are more walkable and bikeable passages.

if we must continue building roads and highways for multi-passenger vehicles that usually transport one person per vehicle, then there should be as many continuous millions of miles of walkable and bikeable passages as there are roads and highways built; and all parking lots should have at least 25 percent soft scape with trees and solar panels to provide shade to help reduce the heat island effect. apple's corporate office is an example (not the only one) of how all developers from small to large should think when they "develop". we can do better, but is anyone else willing to think and do outside of the box?

jdiamond 132 comments · 10 Years

Guys, no one is implying Apple will make a physical car. It's like AppleTV - initially, everyone hoped for an amazing Apple TV that was transparent and thin. But it ended up just being a little box you hook up to a normal TV. There's no reason to think this wouldn't be similar in concept to car play. Apple would just be helping car companies that need to play catch up on things like self driving features, etc. And they could go to town integrating the infotainment/entertainment systems with their own stuff.