Apple's growth in emerging markets like India, Brazil and Mexico is increasingly driven by premium iPhone upgrades rather than new user additions, according to Omdia analyst Sanyam Chaurasia. He notes that India presents the biggest opportunity for user upgrades, with Pro-series penetration still relatively low despite rapid growth in iPhone users. A higher Pro-series mix could generate more revenue than shipment growth alone, supported by improving financing options, trade-in programs and rising incomes.

Heavy artificial-intelligence investment will likely weaken credit metrics for Chinese and U.S. hyperscalers, but capital buffers can ease the strain, Moody's Ratings analysts say. U.S. hyperscalers' free cash flow is set to drop 2026-2027 as capex outpaces cash flow from operations. Leverage pressure is set to intensify as firms like Meta, Alphabet and Oracle step up debt issuances. Chinese hyperscalers face similar issues, with several firms likely turning FCF negative in 2026-2027 as AI infrastructure and chip-procurement accelerate.

China's smartphone makers face pressure from higher prices of memory and other components, Counterpoint Research says. Huawei maintained its leadership in China with a 23% market share, while Apple ranked second with 18%. Xiaomi, whose 2Q shipments dropped 21% on year, took the biggest hit. To cope with higher costs, smartphone makers could raise prices further in the coming months.

Nvidia's H200 chip sales to China made up less than 1% of its data-center revenue in fiscal 2Q, Citi analysts say. Citi estimates those chips would be valued at no more than $890 million, which is too insignificant compared to the capex recorded by Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu in 2Q. The Chinese hyperscalers' spending was likely mostly related to domestic GPU procurement as well as global and domestic memory-chip purchases.