Apple Launches New Products in Time for New CEO

September 10, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus, has barely settled into the corner office, but he has already made his first big move: the launch of the iPhone Duo, a nearly $2,000 foldable phone. The product itself is impressive—the hinge is a marvel of engineering, the screen has no crease—but the bigger question is whether it signals a strategic shift for the world’s most valuable company. This episode of Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing uses that launch as a springboard to examine not just Apple’s direction, but also the state of consumer spending, the perils of acquisition-led growth, and two recent earnings reports that spooked the market.

The Consumer Is Squeezed: Chewy and Casey’s

Before diving into Cupertino, the hosts dissect a pattern that has become distressingly common this earnings season: a company reports decent results, and the stock gets hammered. Two examples are Chewy and Casey’s General Stores. On the surface, Chewy’s numbers looked fine—profitability was solid, gross margins were holding up. But a closer look revealed worrying softness. Net sales per active customer rose just 1.9% year over year, down from 4.6% in the prior quarter and below the rate of inflation. On a real basis, customers are spending less. Even more concerning, Chewy’s “autoship” sales—the recurring subscription revenue that is supposed to be its moat—dipped slightly quarter over quarter. As Mat

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What you'll learn

1 Apple Launches New Products in Time for New CEO
2 (00:12) **Opening & Episode Setup** - Host Tyler Crow introduces the episode with John Quest and Matt Frankel, previewing Apple's product launch and mailbag segment
3 (00:30) **Earnings Season Theme: Good Results, Bad Stock Reactions** - The panel identifies a recurring pattern where companies post okay-to-good earnings yet see double-digit stock declines
4 (01:11) **Chewy's Earnings: Profitability Isn't the Problem** - John Quest explains that Chewy's bottom line looks fine, but the concerning signals are in customer spending trends
5 (03:26) **The Macro Consumer Squeeze Hits Chewy** - Matt Frankel connects Chewy's slowdown to broader consumer behavior trends seen across retail
6 (04:06) **Casey's General Stores: Fuel Masked the Real Story** - The panel breaks down how Casey's headline numbers conceal a similar consumer pullback inside its stores
7 (06:53) **Which Is the Better Buy: Chewy or Casey's?** - The hosts give contrasting assessments of which beaten-down stock they'd pick today

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Matt Frankel John Quest Tyler Crow

Show Notes

While Apple has continued to be a great business, it’s been a minute since the company issued a new product that made us go “wow”. With new CEO John Ternus coming from the hardware side of the business, it comes as little surprise that one of the first things it announced was a major change to the iPhone, the iPhone Duo. Matt, Jon, and Tyler break down how this launch could impact the bottom line and whether this is a sign of what Apple will look like under Ternus. Plus, Chewy & Casey’s General Store earnings and what makes a good acquirer.

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Tyler Crowe, Jon Quast, and MAtt Frankel discuss:
- Chewy’s earnings
- Casey’s General Store earnings
- Apple’s new iPhone Duo
- New CEO, new Focus?
- Mailbag: is acquisition a good strategy?

Companies discussed: CHWY, CASY, APPL, AJG

Host: Tyler Crowe
Guests: Jon Quast, Matt Frankel
Engineer: Dennis Golin

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