The Ledger

Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.

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why aren't all 68 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable

Assertion Supported
Kantrowitz: Apple wanted Anthropic Claude before choosing Google as Plan B
“Actually Apple wanted to go with Anthropic first, and they wanted to use Claude. This is according to Mark Gurman, said it this week. Turns out Anthropic, you know, was basically trying to chart and a lot of money, and then they eventually went with Plan B, wh…”
Alex Kantrowitz Feb 2, 2026 ▶ 39:27 The Anthropic Rocketship, AI’s Spending Limits, SpaceX IPO
Prediction Held up
Kantrowitz: Tim Cook will likely step down as Apple CEO in 2026
“This is the last year, I think, for Tim Cook. Just, you know, not based off of any, anything more than reading the reports, but I think he's done.”
Alex Kantrowitz Jan 13, 2026 ▶ 46:16 AI’s Steve Jobs?, Big Tech AI Chaos, 2026 Crystal Ball
Prediction Held up
Siegler: Apple's next CEO will be John Ternus or Craig Federighi
“It has to be sort of between those two, between Ternus and Federighi. But everyone, you know, all the reporting points to Ternus. And so you have to believe that that's the thing.”
M.G. Siegler Jan 13, 2026 ▶ 47:52 AI’s Steve Jobs?, Big Tech AI Chaos, 2026 Crystal Ball
Prediction Didn’t hold up
Kantrowitz: Tim Cook will announce departure on Apple Q1 earnings call
“Tim Cook announces on first quarter conference call that he's leaving the company at the end of the year.”
Alex Kantrowitz Dec 24, 2025 ▶ 24:02 2025 In Review, 2026 Predictions: Meta, NVIDIA, Tesla, OpenAI, Google, Microsoft
Prediction Held up
Kantrowitz: Apple targets smart glasses launch by end of 2026
“Apple is going to release its smart glasses targeted at the end of next year.”
Alex Kantrowitz Dec 8, 2025 ▶ 19:03 AI Device Wars Heat Up, RIP Metaverse?, Netflix Acquires Warner Brothers
Prediction Didn’t hold up
Kantrowitz: Tim Cook could step down as Apple CEO in early 2026
“But between that departure and this mega byline story in the FT I could see Tim Cook realistically leaving in Q one in 20, 26. I think that's a real thing.”
Alex Kantrowitz Dec 1, 2025 ▶ 7:20 Tim Cook’s Final Year?, Big Tech Horse Race, Anthropic’s Profitability Push
Assertion Supported
Judge Mehta Rules Google Keeps Chrome and Android in Remedy
“And the judge who brought the ruling on Tuesday, Amit Mehta, basically ruled across the board, none of that needs to happen. It can keep Chrome, it can keep Android, it can continue to pay for distribution within Apple devices, and the partnerships can continu…”
Alex Kantrowitz Sep 8, 2025 ▶ 9:29 Google’s Best Week Ever, AI’s Rising Costs, Putin and Xi’s Immortality Quest
Prediction Held up
Morris: Google Will Lose Exclusive Safari Search Deal from Antitrust Remedies
“They're going to have to share more data with rivals. They're going to lose the right to be Apple's exclusive search engine provider on Safari across its devices.”
Stephen Morris Jul 28, 2025 ▶ 49:08 Countdown to GPT-5, OpenAI’s Stargate Sputters, AI Math Wars
Assertion Supported
Roy: Cook backed CFO over Schiller on 27% App Store fee
“So in 2023, after the initial decision, Phil Schiller had actually said that maybe we move to a model where Apple takes no commission, but apparently Apple's finance chief had come up with the idea around 27%. Tim Cook sided with the finance chief, Luca Maestr…”
Ranjan Roy May 5, 2025 ▶ 39:20 The ‘AI-First Company,’ Big Tech Mega Earnings, NVIDIA vs. Anthropic
Prediction Didn’t hold up
Ives: Trump victory will initially hurt AI trade, Apple, and Tesla
“Trump gets in, if he gets in, It is very negative for the AI trade. Initially, semis, tariffs, retaliatory for Apple, Tesla.”
Dan Ives Oct 23, 2024 ▶ 26:56 The Apple Paradox, Trump’s Impact on Markets, NVIDIA Demand — With Dan Ives and Stephanie Link
Prediction Partly held up
Link: Trump election victory will trigger selloffs in Apple and semis
“I think the initial knee-jerk reaction will be sell Apple, sell semiconductors and in spades, because they've all done so well over the last several years even with the President Biden's tariffs, because we know that he kept a lot of tariffs on, but, you know,…”
Stephanie Link Oct 23, 2024 ▶ 24:37 The Apple Paradox, Trump’s Impact on Markets, NVIDIA Demand — With Dan Ives and Stephanie Link
Prediction Didn’t hold up
Ives: NVIDIA will reach $4 trillion market cap in 3-6 months
“I think you're looking at four trillion dollar mark cap again in the next three to six months. I mean, that's, I think them and Apple, they battle it out for that finish line to get the four trillion.”
Dan Ives Oct 23, 2024 ▶ 35:46 The Apple Paradox, Trump’s Impact on Markets, NVIDIA Demand — With Dan Ives and Stephanie Link
Prediction Held up
Ives: Current fiscal year will be Apple's strongest iPhone unit year ever
“So regardless of what you want to say about Apple intelligence, if it's going to be rolled out in October, November, January, February, in the next, for this fiscal year, this will, unless some black swan event happens, be the strongest iPhone unit year ever h…”
Dan Ives Oct 23, 2024 ▶ 2:00 The Apple Paradox, Trump’s Impact on Markets, NVIDIA Demand — With Dan Ives and Stephanie Link
Prediction Didn’t hold up
Ives: Apple's China sales will grow 15% to 20% next year
“But Alex, if you look at comps, the next year, China's gonna be up 15, 20%, and that's why, like, the bears, when they come out of hibernation mood with iPhone mathematical gymnastics trying to scare people, the reason the stock's not doing anything, because i…”
Dan Ives Oct 23, 2024 ▶ 4:32 The Apple Paradox, Trump’s Impact on Markets, NVIDIA Demand — With Dan Ives and Stephanie Link
Prediction Held up
Swisher says Apple needs AI partners because it doesn't steal data
“Why they have to partner with someone. They don't collect information the way the others do. They're not information thieves the way the others are.”
Kara Swisher Apr 20, 2024 ▶ 22:37 Kara Swisher Rates Tech Leaders
Assertion Supported
Siegler: Cook takes Apple executive chairman role with CEO-level pay
“Even though he's taking the step back out of the CEO role as executive chairman. He's getting paid CEO-level money”
M.G. Siegler Sep 9, 2026 ▶ 21:38 Apple’s Folding Phone "Duo" Is Here + OpenAI vs. Google vs. Anthropic Revisited — With M.G. Siegler
Assertion Supported
Kantrowitz: Apple sent document preservation letters to dozens of OpenAI employees
“So the latest is that Apple has now sent dozens of OpenAI employees legal letters asking them to preserve their documents, and Apple has also said that this, they only found the tip of the iceberg.”
Alex Kantrowitz Jul 20, 2026 ▶ 51:20 Kimi K3 & AI’s Price War, What’s Happening To Google?, OpenAI’s Partner Trouble
Assertion Supported
Kantrowitz: Tim Cook steps down as Apple CEO, John Ternus succeeds him
“Tim Cook has stepped down as the CEO of Apple and John Ternus is going to replace him as of September first.”
Alex Kantrowitz Apr 21, 2026 ▶ 0:10 Tim Cook Steps Down. And Who is John Ternus? — With Joanna Stern
Assertion Supported
Google Barred From Paying for Safari Search Exclusivity
“I mean, now one of the interesting things in the ruling was that Google can no longer pay for the exclusive position Within things like Safari. So it can, can't be paid Apple to be the only thing, but it's allowed to pay for distribution.”
Alex Kantrowitz Sep 8, 2025 ▶ 15:09 Google’s Best Week Ever, AI’s Rising Costs, Putin and Xi’s Immortality Quest
Assertion Supported
Apple and Google Agree to Test Gemini Model for Siri
“The company's reached a formal agreement this week for Apple to evaluate and test a Google developed AI model to help power the voice assistant.”
Alex Kantrowitz Sep 8, 2025 ▶ 2:41 Google’s Best Week Ever, AI’s Rising Costs, Putin and Xi’s Immortality Quest
Assertion Supported
Kantrowitz: Acquiring Perplexity would be Apple's largest acquisition by far
“This is why I've been jumping up and down on the table for them to acquire perplexity would be the biggest acquisition in their history by far.”
Alex Kantrowitz Jun 11, 2025 ▶ 36:18 What Apple's Failures Say About AI's Limitations —  With M.G. Siegler
Assertion Contradicted
Ives: Apple gained ~300 bps of China market share over two years
“First off, they've gained about 300 bips of market share in China in the last two years.”
Dan Ives Oct 23, 2024 ▶ 4:11 The Apple Paradox, Trump’s Impact on Markets, NVIDIA Demand — With Dan Ives and Stephanie Link
Prediction Held up
Kantrowitz: The iPhone 16 will not trigger an Apple Intelligence supercycle
“The 16 is not going to be the super cycle. That's based off of apple intelligence. That's so many people hoped.”
Alex Kantrowitz Sep 11, 2024 ▶ 17:40 iPhone16 Arrives + Apple Intelligence Delays
Assertion Supported
Kantrowitz: Apple is doubling its advertising product team
“Apple is in the middle of doubling its ad sales team, or its advertising team, not sales, the team that builds ad products there.”
Alex Kantrowitz Sep 29, 2022 ▶ 44:55 Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen On Product, Competition, And Transparency
Prediction Held up
Siegler: iPhone Pro will retain a better camera system than foldable iPhone
“The pro will continue to have the best camera system. Largely, it seems like simply because of laws of physics, right? And the way that the foldable is gonna be more space constrained you know, by the, by its nature.”
M.G. Siegler Sep 9, 2026 ▶ 29:06 Apple’s Folding Phone "Duo" Is Here + OpenAI vs. Google vs. Anthropic Revisited — With M.G. Siegler
Assertion Supported
Micron Achieved 84.9% Gross Margin Compared to Apple's 49.3%
“Micron's gross margin was 84.9% last quarter, and Apple's was 49.3%.”
Alex Kantrowitz Jun 29, 2026 ▶ 43:13 Mythos is Back, OpenAI Releases GPT 5.6, Apple’s Price Increases
Assertion Supported
Kantrowitz: Apple reassigned Vision Pro lead Mike Rockwell to fix Siri
“They put the person on Vision Pro on Siri and he fixed it. Wait, Mike Rockwell.”
Alex Kantrowitz Jun 26, 2026 ▶ 1:32:28 Big Technology AI Summit (full): Greg Brockman, Mike Krieger, Aaron Levie & Friends of The Podcast
Assertion Contradicted
Kantrowitz: Apple exclusively marketed the Vision Pro as an isolated, solo device
“Apple never advertised that as a social device. All the marketing was just You're sitting alone at home, and all you're doing is the Vision Pro. Nobody else exists.”
Alex Kantrowitz Jun 22, 2026 ▶ 11:56 Are AI Glasses Over? + Big Technology AI Summit Audience Questions
Prediction Held up
Siegler: Apple will not show glasses, foldables, or AirPods at WWDC
“They're not going to show off the new glasses. They're not going to show off the fold. The AirPods like are maybe the closest, you know, thing that we have to an AI device. It's likely ready, more ready to roll. I just be shocked if they do that.”
M.G. Siegler Jun 8, 2026 ▶ 50:25 Did Google Just Fall Behind Again?, WWDC Preview, Anthropic Files To Go Public
Assertion Supported
Apple grew iPhone sales 21 percent to $111 billion without AI
“They, let me just say they had iPhone sales grow 21.7%. They don't have AI on the iPhone. Siri sucks. It's just the counterpoint to what we've been saying. They had quarterly sales of a 101 hundred and eleven billion.”
Alex Kantrowitz May 4, 2026 ▶ 47:53 OpenAI’s User Growth Miss, Musk vs. Altman In Court, Prediction Market Ban
Assertion Partly supported
Siegler: Meta spends $130B on CapEx while Apple spends around $18B-$20B
“We have Meta over here that's spending a hundred and thirty billion dollars in CapEx, whereas Apple is spending much closer to zero. You know, it's something around, like, it's like 18 or twenty billion dollars in CapEx. Because they're not building out obviou…”
M.G. Siegler Feb 3, 2026 ▶ 45:52 The Moltbook Uprising, NVIDIA’s OpenAI Pullback, Apple’s Conundrum
Assertion Supported
Kantrowitz: Meta poaches Apple UI design chief Alan Dye
“Apple's head of user interface design, Alan Dye, along with the deputy and maybe some other team members, went over to Meta. Meta poached them.”
Alex Kantrowitz Dec 8, 2025 ▶ 2:39 AI Device Wars Heat Up, RIP Metaverse?, Netflix Acquires Warner Brothers
Prediction Held up
Siegler: Tim Cook will become Apple chairman instead of fully retiring
“I don't think Tim Cook is actually going to leave leave. I think he would become, yeah, like chairman.”
M.G. Siegler Dec 1, 2025 ▶ 5:18 Tim Cook’s Final Year?, Big Tech Horse Race, Anthropic’s Profitability Push
Assertion Supported
Kantrowitz: Apple dramatically cut iPhone Air production after it massively flopped
“We also know that the iPhone Air is basically a massive flop there. They cut back production dramatically. It doesn't seem like They're working on a next edition.”
Alex Kantrowitz Dec 1, 2025 ▶ 26:03 Tim Cook’s Final Year?, Big Tech Horse Race, Anthropic’s Profitability Push
Assertion Supported
Kantrowitz: Close to a dozen Apple AI leaders have left for Meta
“I think this is, what, close to a dozen. Folks from Apple's AI division that have left to Meta, including a large percentage of, it seems like a large percentage of its leadership.”
Alex Kantrowitz Oct 20, 2025 ▶ 39:47 Erotic ChatGPT, Zuck’s Apple Assault, AI’s Sameness Problem
Assertion Supported
Siegler: Next Vision Pro update will only bring chip and headband upgrades
“They're obviously about to release a new version with just an upgraded chip. It's apparently going to have a slightly better headband, which is nice because the current one is not any good, but beyond that, it will just be a chip upgrade.”
M.G. Siegler Oct 6, 2025 ▶ 51:39 OpenAI and AMD's Megadeal, Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s Bumpy Start. Meta vs. Apple
Assertion Supported
Siegler: Apple Skips John Gruber's Talk Show for First Time in Decade
“They apparently are not sending an Apple exec to John Gruber's talk show you know, event this year for the first time in a decade”
M.G. Siegler Jun 11, 2025 ▶ 49:49 What Apple's Failures Say About AI's Limitations —  With M.G. Siegler
Assertion Supported
Siegler: Apple Spent as Much Time on Phone App as AI
“Apple spent three minutes talking about a phone, the phone app, like who uses the phone app anymore? Like, yeah, there's some nice little cute upgrades, but we didn't need to talk about that for three minutes when we talked about Apple intelligence for roughly…”
M.G. Siegler Jun 11, 2025 ▶ 4:54 What Apple's Failures Say About AI's Limitations —  With M.G. Siegler
Assertion Supported
Kantrowitz: Apple Intelligence cross-app contextual features failed to ship in 2025
“I mean, if you think back to last year's event, we were promised effectively a contextually aware assistant, Apple intelligence that could combine signals from your apps and make your life easier by doing things like searching your Gmail and telling you when y…”
Alex Kantrowitz Jun 9, 2025 ▶ 4:35 Apple’s AI 'Gap Year' at WWDC?, Elon Vs. Trump Goes Nuclear, NYTimes’ OpenAI Attack
Assertion Supported
Roy: Apple generates an estimated $30B from App Store payment fees
“Thirty billion. Thirty billion. That's the estimated revenue from the, directly from the payment side of it.”
Ranjan Roy May 5, 2025 ▶ 45:48 The ‘AI-First Company,’ Big Tech Mega Earnings, NVIDIA vs. Anthropic
Assertion Supported
Kantrowitz: Half of iPhones sold in the US were made in India
“Half the iPhone sold in the U S were made in India.”
Alex Kantrowitz May 5, 2025 ▶ 31:41 The ‘AI-First Company,’ Big Tech Mega Earnings, NVIDIA vs. Anthropic
Assertion Partly supported
Kantrowitz: Apple expects a $900 million tariff cost increase in June quarter
“Apple said there was no tariff impact in the March quarter. It cannot precisely estimate for June quarter, which is the current one, but estimates nine hundred million dollars in cost increases in the period. This is with an exception for iPhone.”
Alex Kantrowitz May 5, 2025 ▶ 32:06 The ‘AI-First Company,’ Big Tech Mega Earnings, NVIDIA vs. Anthropic
Assertion Contradicted
Söderström: Apple held roughly 98% of podcast market without investing
“Apple hadn't invested in it and they had like nine to eight percent Of the market.”
Gustav Söderström Nov 13, 2024 ▶ 44:38 Spotify Co-President Gustav Söderström on their future with Generative AI
Assertion Supported
Swisher: Apple's stock is 10x higher under Tim Cook than Steve Jobs
“Tim Cook has managed to get over that, like, because the stock is so hot, you know, it's, it goes up and down, but it's about 10 X from when Steve Jobs ran it, right?”
Kara Swisher Apr 20, 2024 ▶ 21:20 Kara Swisher Rates Tech Leaders
Prediction Held up
Lanzone: All major search engines will route queries between AI and links
“This is clearly whether it's Bing, Or ChatGPT standalone or perplexity standalone with hitting all the databases they're hitting or now Apple and Google and how they're going to do it. They're all going to be doing that the same way. And so for some queries, i…”
Jim Lanzone Apr 4, 2024 ▶ 47:58 Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone: The Web is Still a Great Business
Assertion Supported
Kantrowitz: Apple's Anti-Tracking Changes Cost Meta $10 Billion in Revenue
“I mean, there was a real hit, especially with Apple's anti-tracking moves. We're talking about a ten billion dollar loss coming in or a contraction of revenue coming in.”
Alex Kantrowitz Oct 25, 2023 ▶ 11:28 Big Technology's New Release, AI Bubble Looms, Apple's Next Event — With Brian McCullough
Assertion Supported
Ramaswamy: Safari restricts default search engines to five preselected options
“Outside of the prescribed five, You can't change the search engine on Safari to anything else, even today.”
Sridhar Ramaswamy Sep 6, 2023 ▶ 34:45 Google’s Weird Year + Neeva Goes to Snowflake — With Sridhar Ramaswamy
Assertion Supported
Sorkin: Apple App Store fee terms have only stayed flat or decreased
“In fact, at Apple, the terms have actually only gotten better, right? They've, first of all, they've either been at 30% or in some cases they've since come down.”
Andrew Ross Sorkin Jun 16, 2021 ▶ 40:49 Andrew Ross Sorkin on Meme Stocks, Bitcoin, SPACs, and Elon Musk
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