Evercore ISI reaffirmed its Outperform rating and $330 price target on Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) following the company’s latest product launches.
The firm noted that Apple began a highly anticipated launch week with the introduction of the iPhone 17e and a refreshed iPad Air. Starting prices for both products remained unchanged at $599 compared to prior generations. However, the base iPhone 17e model now includes 256GB of storage, up from 128GB in the previous 16e base model launched in February 2025.
While both products feature largely unchanged form factors, they incorporate upgrades to Apple’s in-house components, particularly in memory and storage, which the analyst believes were designed to support anticipated Apple Intelligence enhancements expected later this year.
The iPhone 17e includes the upgraded A19 chip, replacing the A18, while the refreshed iPad Air features Apple’s M4 chip, upgraded from the M3. Both devices incorporate Apple’s new C1X cellular modem, and the iPad Air also includes the N1 wireless networking chip, enabling Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.
The shift toward greater integration of Apple’s proprietary silicon, including the C1X and N1 chips, is expected to help offset rising memory costs across NAND and DRAM while also delivering battery life improvements.
Evercore concluded that Apple is strategically refreshing its product lineup ahead of broader AI and Siri enhancements expected later in the year. The firm characterized the launches as incremental hardware updates focused on memory and storage improvements rather than a major redesign cycle. The continued integration of Apple silicon is also expected to help mitigate cost pressures. The firm maintained its Outperform rating and $330 price target.
