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Apple debuts superthin iPhone Air alongside iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro

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Apple debuts superthin iPhone Air alongside iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro

Apple (AAPL) on Tuesday unveiled its iPhone 17 lineup during an event at its headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., including its all-new iPhone Air.

Apple’s iPhone is its most important product, and major redesigns like the iPhone Air generally work to help power sales well into the year ahead. The change comes after years of what was more or less the same design styling across iPhone generations.

In addition to the iPhone Air debut, Apple announced major improvements to the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, including upgraded cameras and batteries and better overall durability. But the Air is easily the star of the show.

The $999 iPhone Air brings the biggest changes to the iPhone since the company unveiled its iPhone X in 2017, when Apple implemented its edge-to-edge screen design.

Apple said the Air’s frame, constructed out of titanium, is both light and durable. The company also uses its Ceramic Shield protection around the entire phone to make it its strongest phone yet.

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At just 5.6 millimeters thick, the iPhone Air is the company’s thinnest iPhone to date. It packs a 6.5-inch display, along with the company’s always-on display and Pro Motion technology.

Inside, the Air features Apple’s new A19 Pro chip, with improved AI acceleration via neural accelerators built into each of the chip’s 5 GPU cores.

The Air also comes with Apple’s N1 chip for wireless and Bluetooth, plus its C1X modem, which Apple said uses 30% less power, which, the company claimed, makes the iPhone Air its most power-efficient yet.

Apple said the Air’s rear 48-megapixel Fusion camera allows you to capture 2x telephoto-like images. The Air also gets Apple’s new Center Stage camera, which the company said can capture landscape and portrait photos without having to rotate your camera.

You can also now record video from the rear and front cameras simultaneously, so you can capture your reaction during a sporting event or concert.

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Apple’s new iPhone Air.

Still, it will be interesting to see if consumers will be OK with the iPhone’s 2x telephoto-like camera when they can opt for a true telephoto lens on the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max.

As far as battery life, Apple claimed the Air will be able to last all day.

The iPhone Air is seen as the first step toward the company’s plans for a foldable iPhone, expected to hit the market in 2026, according to reports from Bloomberg and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Apple’s $799 iPhone 17 doesn’t get the same wholesale redesign as the Air, but it does come with a larger 6.3-inch display and Apple’s Pro Motion, with a refresh rate up to 120 hertz that drops to 1 hertz on the lock screen.

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Finance

Why This Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock Is Gaining Attention From Institutional Investors | The Motley Fool

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Why This Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock Is Gaining Attention From Institutional Investors | The Motley Fool

Alphabet is a favorite among a few hedge fund billionaires.

One artificial intelligence (AI) stock that has gained the interest of a lot of institutional investors lately is Alphabet (GOOGL 0.05%) (GOOG 0.02%). The stock was a top-three holding in the funds of several prominent hedge fund billionaires at the end of Q3, including Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital, Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global Management, and Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management.

Alphabet has returned to its role as an AI leader

It’s easy to see why these billionaires have been drawn to Alphabet’s stock. The stock was very cheap at the start of 2025, as some investors fretted that AI would pressure the company’s core Google search business. Those fears, however, proved to be overblown, and Alphabet has flipped the script to be viewed as one of the best-positioned AI companies moving forward.

Image source: Getty Images.

Alphabet’s strength lies in the fact that it has the most complete AI stack. This starts with its Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), which are custom AI chips it developed over a decade ago and have been tightly integrated into its ecosystem and improved upon over the years. While other companies are trying to catch up in the custom AI chip race, Alphabet’s TPUs are battle-tested and highly regarded, giving it a structural cost advantage when it comes to running AI workloads. It has even begun to let customers begin to deploy its chips through its Google Cloud cloud computing business, creating another revenue stream.

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At the same time, Alphabet has trained its world-class Gemini large language model (LLM) on its chips. Gemini is now considered one of the world’s best AI models, and Alphabet has infused its capabilities throughout its products. In addition to its stand-alone app, which has been gaining market share, it’s also helping drive growth in Google Search through newer AI-powered features, such as AI Overviews, Lens, and Circle to Search. Perhaps the biggest game changer, though, is AI Mode, which lets users easily toggle between traditional search and an AI chatbot without having to switch apps.

Alphabet Stock Quote

Today’s Change

(-0.05%) $-0.16

Current Price

$338.09

Meanwhile, Alphabet’s distribution and ad network advantages remain. Through its ownership of the Chrome browser and Android smartphone operating system, along with a search revenue-sharing deal with Apple, the company is the gateway to the internet for most people. Meanwhile, its massive ad network can help it easily monetize both search and AI chatbot users.

Is Alphabet stock still a buy?

While not the bargain it was a year ago, Alphabet’s stock is still reasonably valued, trading at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of around 25.5 times 2026 analyst estimates. Given that its AI tech stack advantages should just grow with time, the stock is still a buy at current levels.

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Letter: Educate leaders, too, on finance and humanities | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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Letter: Educate leaders, too, on finance and humanities | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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Finance

SB Financial Group Q4 Earnings Call Highlights

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SB Financial Group Q4 Earnings Call Highlights
SB Financial Group (NASDAQ:SBFG) management said fourth quarter and full-year 2025 results reflected continued execution across the franchise, with CEO Mark Klein calling it “one of the strongest earnings quarters and year in our history” despite ongoing pressure on mortgage activity across the indu
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