AsianFin -- Apple’s highly anticipated annual developer event fell flat on Monday, failing to quell mounting concerns that the iPhone maker is lagging behind in the race for artificial intelligence dominance.

Shares dropped as much as 1.9% during the keynote, wiping out $65.3 billion in market value, as CEO Tim Cook unveiled only modest software upgrades across Apple’s platforms. Notably absent: any major AI breakthrough or meaningful upgrade to Siri, the company’s long-standing voice assistant.

The muted reception underscores frustration among investors and analysts who see Apple trailing rivals like Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI in deploying cutting-edge AI tools.

Apple’s former design chief, Sir Jony Ive, recently joined OpenAI in a $6.5 billion initiative to create AI-driven hardware—moves seen as a direct challenge to the iPhone’s centrality in the tech ecosystem. Speaking at the time, Ive criticized the “legacy” nature of current devices and their “decades-old” technology. 

At the event, Apple introduced a few incremental AI-driven features, such as live translation for phone calls and a screening function for unknown callers. It also opened access to on-device AI tools for developers, which software chief Craig Federighi said would “ignite a whole new wave of intelligent experiences.”

Yet analysts weren’t impressed. Daniel Ives of Wedbush called the event “a yawner,” while Investing.com’s Thomas Monteiro said the announcements “felt incremental at best” at a moment when the market is seeking bold AI leadership. 

Cook, who last month admitted Siri improvements were still not ready for launch, is now under increased pressure to show Apple can still lead in an industry being rapidly redefined by generative AI.