Apple a top Warren Buffett holds and has crypto function now

Warren Buffett holds apple (AAPL) stock for a reason. The No. 1 company in its portfolio and the world’s largest company by market capitalization ticks all the boxes: from cutting-edge design and technology to popularity and even a cult following.

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However, users of Apple products know that the smooth home screen of the devices hides a number of technical feats.

The design can often make us forget the childlike ease of use that makes Apple products so popular. That ease of use is not easy to achieve.

Apple stopped using Inteltheir (INTC) core processors in 2020 and started making their own.

The microprocessors and chips that power Apple products are among the most advanced. Its advanced M1 Ultra is believed to be more powerful than the most powerful Intel chip.

But that is not the main advantage. Since Apple started making its own chips, Apple has integrated its advanced software and hardware on its own platform.

The software-hardware integration powers the beautiful home screen that is the iOS interface and makes Apple products incredibly intuitive.

It also makes Apple as much a consumer services company as the tech giant it is.

Apple’s feature to pay with crypto support

In February, Apple announced that Tap To Pay on the iPhone XS and later models would support crypto payments.

In March, a leading crypto wallet and popular NFT app, Metamask, said it would support Apple Pay. Until then, any crypto purchase had to go through an exchange that Coin base (COIN) before it is transferred to Metamask.

Metamask is a popular digital wallet with over 30 million monthly active users. It is easier to use than digital exchanges. Now it can be downloaded from the App Store.

People can buy crypto through the app instead of using an exchange. The transaction will go through what is known as an application programming interface that is integrated with Apple Pay.

Crypto on iPhones would give customers the convenience that has eluded the new asset class.

Apple’s user-friendly design doesn’t require people to understand how things work behind the screen. The solid hardware-software integration supports smooth performance and upgrades most of the time.

Cryptocurrencies lack a customer interface

Cryptocurrencies lack a customer interface. Their complex technology is difficult to understand.

The blockchains they operate on follow different protocols and these are also obstacles for anyone trying to track crypto.

Understanding digital wallets and how they work is part of this challenge. Security concerns haunt its adoption.

Crypto has introduced a whole new set of terms that are unfamiliar, such as hashrate, native coins and fungibility. Even mining means something very specific in the crypto world.

Should Apple Pay support crypto purchases directly in the future instead of going through third parties, it could become a crypto exchange.

According to some views, that would mean Apple would buy Bitcoin.

If the technology and consumer services start offering crypto directly through the same intuitive interface, the barriers to using crypto may disappear.

Crypto on iPhone can also change the crypto community. Until now, there is a community of developers, investors and fans who speak crypto language with each other.

Apple, on the other hand, is primarily a consumer electronics play. It seeks to understand consumers and that is the market crypto needs to penetrate.

IPhone sales, Apple revenue and acquisitions

iPhones accounted for 52% of Apple’s 2021 sales. Services accounted for 18%.

The company reached 1.8 billion active users in January. An active user is someone who has connected to an Apple service within the last 90 days.

For the quarter ended June 30, iPhone sales were $40.6 billion, up just 3% from $39.5 billion a year earlier. Services revenue grew 12% to $19.6 billion.

Declining global demand for phones has, however, led to the company pulling back on plans to increase production.

It aimed to make 6 million more iPhone 14s this year. It will now make the same number as last year, which is 90 million.

The company is known for making unconventional moves due to its extreme customer focus.

The acquisitions have often landed on an iPhone function. Chomp’s app search tool landed on the App Store after Apple acquired it in 2012. Mapsense was included in Apple Maps after being acquired in 2015.

Apple is the largest company by market capitalization, currently at $2.3 trillion, while crypto’s smaller players account for $960 billion.

There’s no telling if a crypto feature might land on the home screen or the App Store.

At the end of 2021, Apple CEO Tim Cook observed that the giant was looking at cryptocurrencies, but had no immediate plans.

Apple is known for its ability to combine the latest and most complex technology with an ultra-slim and simplified design.

It is also an innovative company that puts design on an equal footing with technology. The design focuses on user experience.

The customer focus has led the company to focus on new and successful products, from iPhones to iPads, iPods and AirPods. That is why it makes up 40% of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) holdings.

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