Apple Debuts Company’s First Foldable Phone

9 Sep 2026 · 44 min · 19 chapters

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In short

This episode is a rapid-fire tech and business roundup anchored by Apple’s “iPhone Duo” foldable launch, plus follow-on discussion of AI strategy, smartphone pricing, and market implications. Apple CEO John Ternus frames the iPhone as an “intelligent personal hub” for the AI era, emphasizing personalization and on-device AI. The foldable is described as having a 5.4-inch folded display and 7.6-inch unfolded, positioned as a new interface rather than two phones stuck together.

Key claims

pricing is high (reported entry $1,999 up to $3,000), likely limiting mass upgrade cycles; component/memory costs and chip supply dynamics won’t quickly ease; Apple’s Siri/on-device approach may lag “agentic” competitors without a clear cloud strategy.

Notable examples

Gurman’s praise of the Duo interface; forecasts of a small foldable market (tens of millions) but growth momentum from Apple.

Guests

Ed Ludlow (Bloomberg Tech host, reporting from Cupertino), Mandeep Singh (Bloomberg Intelligence global head of technology research).

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

Tap a time to open that second in VO

Apple's Annual Product Announcement

1:54 to 2:56

Discussion on Apple's latest product announcements, including the CEO's vision.

“Well, Apple's annual product announcement happening today.”

The Foldable iPhone Duo

2:56 to 4:24

Exploration of the features and implications of Apple's foldable iPhone.

“Is that what it's all about, or is it more about AI at Apple?”

Market Position and Pricing Strategy

4:24 to 6:17

Analysis of the foldable iPhone's pricing and market potential.

“Well, I don't know, given the price point.”

Design and User Experience Insights

6:17 to 7:37

Discussion on the design features and user interface of the new iPhone.

“I think battery life is getting a major boost there.”

AI Strategy and Siri's Role

7:37 to 9:40

Examination of Apple's AI strategy and the future of Siri.

“But it's a market or category or segment that will grow, the forecasters believe, because Apple's now a part in it.”

Apple's Distribution Power and Future Outlook

9:40 to 14:01

Discussion on Apple's distribution capabilities and future AI developments.

“I mean, these are the guys that are masters of supply chains.”

Apple's Foldable Phone Pricing Announcement

14:01 to 17:03

Discussion on Apple's foldable phone pricing and market reactions.

“Even though they may not have the AI, they will continue to own the distribution just with the device footprint and the loyal customer base they have.”

Healthcare System Improvements

19:00 to 27:27

Analysis of challenges in the healthcare system and Optum's solutions.

“Secretary Scott Besson's challenge to traders to test his resolve on boosting Japan's currency.”

AI and Business Productivity

28:34 to 28:50

Discussion on the gap between AI advancements and business productivity.

“Not because AI doesn't work, but because AI hasn't reached the workflows yet.”

K-Shaped Economy Discussion

29:47 to 30:48

Exploring the dynamics of the K-shaped economy and wealth disparity.

“Hey, check out his Twitter or Twitter, Twitter, Twitter.”
Show all 19 chapters

Impact of AI on the Economy

30:51 to 37:54

Discussion with Peter Atwater on how AI is shaping economic disparities.

“So we are delighted to have back with us Peter Atwater.”

Education and Future Job Markets

37:56 to 39:41

How the K-shaped economy is influencing education and job training.

“But I do think about, I was talking with my brother last night, and I'm of a generation.”

Young People's Investment Choices

39:41 to 40:53

Analyzing how the K-shaped economy affects young people's financial decisions.

“Do they take a more nihilistic approach?”

Book Recommendations and Closing Thoughts

40:53 to 41:38

Final thoughts from Peter Atwater and a discussion on impactful literature.

“you come on with authors, because I love, what are you reading right now, real quickly?”

Using ChatGPT for Project Management

42:00 to 42:25

Learn how ChatGPT can streamline chaotic project workflows.

“stay with a project for hours if needed, and turn a goal into finished work.”

The Rise and Fall of LIV Golf

44:51 to 47:09

Explore the challenges faced by LIV Golf and its impact on the PGA Tour.

“With us, the co-host of the Business of Sports podcast, he's Randall Williams.”

NFL Season Kickoff and Player Health

47:09 to 48:20

Discussion on the NFL's plans for additional games and player safety.

“The PGA Tour revitalized extremely and a lot faster than people expected.”

Messi's Investment in Soccer

48:20 to 50:40

Analyzing Messi's ownership stake in a Spanish football team and its implications.

“No, this is the only thing that saves us from AI, truly.”

US Open Timing Issues

50:40 to 51:26

Challenges of scheduling major matches at the US Open and its implications.

“We're going to be the epicenter of sports culture tomorrow with power players.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:00Bloomberg Businessweek Daily is brought to you by HPE, bringing you the self-driving network, a network that's self-optimizing, self-healing, and self-protecting, and only continues to get smarter. Learn more at hpe.com slash networking. Some people treat ChatGPT like some kind of smart search engine, and some use it to get work done. ChatGPT Work is a new way of working in ChatGPT that can take action across your apps and files, stay with a project for hours if needed, and turn a goal into finished work. It's designed to help you move from a chaotic starting point to a reviewable first version.

0:36So all the source materials, briefs, and scattered information that you have to grind through to turn into something useful can just become something useful. Put ChatGPT to work on your most ambitious ideas and projects. Get started at ChatGPT.com by selecting Work Mode, available on Plus and Pro plans. Healthcare doesn't always work great. If you've ever waited on a refill or couldn't schedule an appointment, you get it. That's the kind of stuff Optum is changing. They're using data and technology to integrate patient care, pharmacy, and everything else. So healthcare is connected, not complicated.

1:13What's that look like? Cheaper prescriptions that are easier to get and care that looks at the whole person. How you need it. Optum is helping make healthcare work as one for everyone. Learn more at business.optum.com. Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts. Radio. News. This is Bloomberg Business Week Daily. Reporting from the magazine that helps global leaders stay ahead. With insight on the people, companies and trends shaping today's complex economy. Plus, global business, finance and tech news as it happens. The Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast. With Carol Masser and Tim Stenevek on Bloomberg Radio.

1:58Well, Apple's annual product announcement happening today. It all got underway about an hour or so ago. I'm looking at our live blog. There's so much on it. We should point out, it is the first major product announcement under new CEO John Ternus. Here's what he had to say a little bit earlier. As we look ahead, we see a future filled with enormous discovery and transformation. AI makes entirely new kinds of experiences possible. and AI can become even more useful when it brings together your life with the apps, services, and products you use every day. And that, of course, was John Ternus, the CEO of Apple earlier today, obviously from the Cupertino headquarters.

2:41Let's get to it, a front row to it all. The host of Bloomberg Tech on Bloomberg TV, Ed Ludlow. He's out there in Cupertino. Right here in studio is our own Mandeep Singh, Bloomberg Intelligence, global head of technology research, right here, as I mentioned, in studio. Hey, Ed, so let's get to it. We've all been kind of hyped up about this foldable phone. Is that what it's all about, or is it more about AI at Apple? It's one more thing to reflect on the famous Steve Jobs phrase, and it is the foldable iPhone, iPhone Duo. So Bloomberg's reporting completely accurate on the naming. When it's folded up, it has a 5.4 inch display and when it's unfolded it is a 7.6 inch display 50 percent greater than the iphone pro model that they had also unveiled today for the 18th generation and find this so interesting the common thread of all of this apart from the specifics of the foldable which we can get into is you know john turnus basically positioning the iphone as the main device for the ai era but the whole selling point, the benefit of it is it's personal to you.

3:48It has all of your personal data. It's consents the world around you to make the most of that. And they really are positioning this as being the frontier and therefore the foldable, a big part of that too. Mandy, let's bring you in here because I want to get your thoughts on the foldable iPhone as well. And where the future of this is going, because is this supposed to be a new product under a new CEO? I don't want to call it a gimmick, but is this going to be a side product eventually? Or is the idea here that anyone who has an iPhone now, the next time they upgrade, they're getting a foldable iPhone?

4:24Well, I don't know, given the price point. I mean, you know, when you're talking about a two grand price point, I think it's going to be hard for people, a lot of people to upgrade. And look, I can see why they had to price it at that$2 ,000 because all of their component prices are going up. So they don't have a choice. I mean, I think they are eating a lot of the memory costs for the older versions of their phone. And iPhone Pro, I think, increased by$100. But the memory prices probably have gone up more. So from that perspective, it's hard to see a big upgrade cycle playing out. To me, this is more like a Vision Pro.

5:06Some people will buy it. It'll be interesting, but this is not going to be a mass upgrade. Well, I have to say, Mark Gurman was so excited leading into this, and he writes on the blog, so far I am blown away by the new interface of the iPhone Duo. Apple seriously nailed the user interface of the foldable phone here. They knocked it out of the park here. I'm going to bring you back in a moment, Ed, but I mean, Mandeep, the Apple brand is iconic. and does this just kind of fold right, no pun intended, but kind of fold into what they are known for of just creating incredible products? It is, and look, when it comes to marketing, there is no better company that knows how to market their products.

5:45So there will be a lot of excitement and I wouldn't be surprised if the Apple store at Fifth Avenue has a long line just to get the new phone. But to my mind, when it comes to a big upgrade cycle, like we saw with iPhone 6 or one of the earlier versions, it had to be either driven by a new feature, like a big camera upgrade or something exciting, and at a reasonable price point. To me, this is too high of a price point for this to drive a big upgrade cycle. But I could be off. For me, the phone could be fabulous. It's just the price point is too high. Well, maybe it's the iPhone 18, right? I think battery life is getting a major boost there.

6:28Ed, come on back in. You're there on the ground, too. tell us about kind of the move, the sentiment as all of this was unfolding. I keep saying that. I'm sorry. I'm just stuck there with you. Yeah, I mean, this feels like you go with it. That's why we're all here, right? The secret no more in the foldable iPhone duo. Look, well, one thing I would say is that the pricing is not yet confirmed, right? Bloomberg's reporting is that the entry level on the foldable will be$2 ,000 up to$3 ,000 when you take into account higher spec storage configurations. With the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, they are$100 a piece more expensive than their prior generations.

7:08And with both the foldable and with what they have announced and confirmed with the 18 Pro and Pro Max, Apple had to make a calculation on how much of the cost to eat and how much to pass on to the consumer. And, you know, I think it's really worth reminding the audience on Business Week, there will be a billion smartphones shipped this year, all kinds of smartphones. There will be maybe 22 to 23 million foldables. And that's a small nascent market. But it's a market or category or segment that will grow, the forecasters believe, because Apple's now a part in it. They might not have been first, but they're going to give momentum to that category.

7:48Tell us a little bit more, Ed, about some of these details about the new phone. I know something that Mark Gurman was writing about was whether or not when the phone opened up, there was going to be a very obvious crease in between the two folds. What more have we learned so far about what the design really looks like? Well, I'm just looking at the image and it's not obvious to me. What John Ternus opened with in this one more thing, foldable section, was that to this point, foldable phones have looked like two different phones stuck together. And that, you know, Apple's North Star Guiding Light was for that not to be the case in their case.

8:28And so, you know, basic, I haven't had my hands on it yet. I'm hoping to do that in the next 30 minutes or so. But it looks like at least in the crease, they've managed to fold in all the work of the different technology teams that have been working on this for almost a decade. So, Mandeep, is this something that ultimately we all, will component prices come down ultimately over time? Or is this always going to be a more expensive product? Like I just think about when first people had their iPhone and it was such a status symbol. I mean, be in a conference room and somebody would put it on the table to let everybody know they had an iPhone.

9:02But do we get to a point where this is much more affordable and relatable or sellable to the masses? I mean, not if you go by the memory forecasts and what we know about the DRAM market and, you know, how the data center companies are all looking, the chip companies are all looking to lock in their supply. And I don't think Apple has any long term agreements. So, I mean, even though they are the scale player, but I think right now the data centers and the chip companies in data centers are consuming a lot more memory. So to my mind, the pricing dynamic isn't going to change anytime soon. You said they don't have any long-term agreements when it comes to their chips?

9:43I mean, these are the guys that are masters of supply chains. Yeah, but I think things are changing now with what we are seeing with NVIDIA, you know, prepaying$260 billion to their suppliers. So the magnitude of prepayments that NVIDIA is making to their suppliers, I think have surpassed what Apple has done over the years. That's a change. Big change. Big change. So, Mandeep, you know, there's an interesting article on the Bloomberg Terminal about how Apple investors are famously hard to impress on these, you know, iPhone event days. The stock is down right now. And we've actually seen a pattern of that, that the stock drops.

10:22It underwhelms investors. What are you going to be looking for at this event to kind of determine whether this was ultimately an underwhelming event or something that was really exciting? Yeah, so they mentioned about Siri upgrade and the fact that Siri features in a big way in terms of, you know, the capabilities of this new phone. To my mind, they stress that on-device AI. And when you think about large Android models, they don't run well on device. The most capable models run on the cloud. So without really having a cloud strategy, it's hard for me to imagine that Siri catches up to everything else that is getting rolled out in the agentic world.

11:05And that is where I think Apple, I would be curious to see if they are going all by themselves or they're partnering with someone. And that strategy is still not clear to me. Ed, come on in if you can. And I do want to point out that shares of Apple have actually rallied almost 27%, right, since late March. We've seen it bounce back. But tell us a little bit about, you know, any thoughts off of Mandeep's comment. And I do wonder about also Siri, which frustrates the hell out of me in its current form. And I'd love for it to work, but it doesn't for me. There is still great debate about what the demand actually is for on-device AI running capable models with large format parameters, talking billions of parameters locally on the device.

11:53And that is an academic debate about, in the end, what is it that we think is useful to do? The Apple pitch, and what John Turnus has outlined, is that he calls it the intelligent personal hub. The reason the iPhone is the ideal AI device to have as an individual, as a consumer, as opposed to a developer that's running little clusters of Mac minis, is that it has got the hardware needs met, powerful processors, all of the sensor inputs that make it necessary, has a chip in the A20 in this generation across the Pro, and they've just confirmed it's gone into the foldable, that's twice as powerful from an AI perspective as what was in last year's.

12:32But the most important thing is that it has access to you, dear iPhone user. It knows all about you. It has your data in a way that's secure, and that that makes those smaller models, custom models, which Apple did not go into detail on, more useful in your own personal context. Mandy, talk about Apple's kind of AI strategy and just how important it is for their financial future to get this right. I mean, to my mind, they have all the surface area to deploy AI, the calendar app, the browser, the mail app. And that's what everyone is trying to connect to to have that best possible agent. I mean, just over the weekend, I was playing with this new company's functionality instinct.

13:20So they are like a message-based personal assistant. It works on iMessage. iMessage is Apple's product. This company has built an entire product of personal assistant on iMessage. And that's why I think Meta rolled out their Meta Agent app. So that is the direction that every company is going when it comes to personal agent. If Apple is able to do that at the operating system level or at the iMessage level, that's huge. But I don't think this is going to run on device. I would be very surprised if they pull this off with on device AI. So ironically, everything's here that it should make sense and so easy for Apple to do.

13:59But to run it on this. They own the distribution when it comes to consumers. Apple owns the distribution. Even though they may not have the AI, they will continue to own the distribution just with the device footprint and the loyal customer base they have. The question is, do they roll out their own AI in time or not? I don't know, Ed. So are we going to get any insight on that? And I'm also curious how you think the view was that John Ternus did in his first time up on the big stage as CEO. well uh it was uh classically apple in so far as his big moment at the beginning on stage remarks were real and in person the rest of it was all polished and recorded and choreographed it always is i'm waiting for this to hit the bloomberg terminal guys uh as you know i must but they've just announced the pricing on the foldable iphone duo is$1 ,999, which, you know, going back to our conversation about memory, the reporting was, how much does Apple eat the cost?

15:02How much does it pass on? They had battled really hard to get below$2 ,000. And based on what's just been said on stage, they've managed to do it. But I'm waiting for the headline on the Bloomberg terminal. I'm surprised they haven't read headlined it, to be honest. But as you know, these things can take a few seconds. There is a headline, iPhone Duo starting at$1 ,999 for 256 gigabytes. The Duo launching on October 23rd, pre-orders on October 16th. I don't know if that helps it. Yeah, that's confirmation of what we had reported. So, so interesting because, like, for example, Morgan Stanley had a big note out saying that their expectation was that it would price$2 ,300 to$2 ,500.

15:44You had IDC saying they saw it at the higher end of that range. now how many can they do this year again wall street's pretty split some say six million units some say 10 million units over the first sort of calendar year even within the december quarter it's real mystery how this goes for apple but um the shares are having a real sell the news moment aren't they yeah they absolutely are uh right now the stock at 3 10 50 a share just real quickly mandeep 20 seconds um what would you ask john turnus right now that you know what kind of an upgrade cycle they are expecting, given what they rolled out with Duo?

16:21And is there pent-up demand for upgrade? Because they know best how many people have waited for this new launch. So I think the company expectations is what I'm looking for. Tim's not here. I know he needs to upgrade. He's a few behind. But he did say, I think already, it won't be the foldable phone. But he definitely needs an upgrade. Guys, thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Of course, Bloomberg Intelligence Global Head of Technology Research, Mandeep Singh here in studio, and Ed Ludlow out there in Cupertino, the host of Bloomberg Tech on Bloomberg TV. We're going to have more on Apple throughout the next two hours, guys.

16:54This is Bloomberg. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Businessweek Daily coming up after this.

17:03Bloomberg Businessweek Daily is brought to you by HPE, bringing you the self-driving network, A network that's self-optimizing, self-healing, and self-protecting, and only continues to get smarter. Learn more at hpe.com slash networking. Some people treat ChatGPT like some kind of smart search engine, and some use it to get work done. ChatGPT Work is a new way of working in ChatGPT that can take action across your apps and files, stay with a project for hours if needed, and turn a goal into finished work. It's designed to help you move from a chaotic starting point to a reviewable first version.

17:39So all the source materials, briefs, and scattered information that you have to grind through to turn into something useful can just become something useful. Put ChatGPT to work on your most ambitious ideas and projects. Get started at ChatGPT.com by selecting Work Mode, available on Plus and Pro plans. Let's talk about healthcare for a second. It doesn't always work the way people expect it to. If you've ever waited on a prescription refill or had a hard time getting the care you needed, you know the feeling. The system should just work better for everyone. That's exactly what the people at Optum are trying to do every day.

18:16They're a health care company linking patient care and pharmacy services and using data and technology to drive the whole system so care is connected, not complicated, for patients and providers. Things like making it easier to get care that looks at the whole person, from primary care doctors to mental health support and even in-home care, and then using technology to make sure they all work together. Technology designed to help doctors spend less time on busy work and more time with their patients. And those prescriptions? Optum is working to bring costs down, save patients money, and make it easier to get refills.

18:51Little by little, Optum is helping make healthcare work as one for everyone. Head to business.optum.com to see how.

19:25Let's go to it. Secretary Scott Besson's challenge to traders to test his resolve on boosting Japan's currency. He's been talking about this a lot. This all happened yesterday at a Southern Methodist University event in Texas. Whenever people say, oh, well, Treasury Secretary is taking a risk, well, it's my dream. I have asymmetric information. I am the house now. When we intervene with the Japanese yen, I have pretty good insight into what the Japanese, what the Bank of Japan is going to do, what Japanese policymakers are going to do.

20:09And you can bet against me if you want. All right. That, of course, was U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessett yesterday at an event. Here to make sense of the moves of what's been going on and stuff that's coming out of the Treasury. what it means for rates here in the U.S. and really overall market sentiment. With us is Bloomberg Intelligence, Chief U.S. Interest Rate Strategist. He's Ira Jersey. He joins us from BI headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey. Hey, Ira, good to have you here. I feel like the Treasury Secretary is pretty busy. Let's talk about the initial size of the next buyback of longer dated government debt.

20:43What do we need to know about that, the significance of it, or what it means maybe longer term from what we see for rates? Well, first we have to remember the House doesn't always win. So we have to keep that in mind. You know, today's buybacks under announcement underwhelmed. So, you know, Scott Besson had basically guided us toward, oh, we're going to do more than the$4 billion minimum that we talked about. And they announced$6 billion. And that, you know, seriously was under what some people had maybe feared that they were going to do. So the market sold off immediately on that information.

21:18When I say sold off, I mean, the Treasury market. So price down, yield higher. That didn't last very long because one of the things that happened almost less than two hours afterward was a 10-year Treasury auction, which went exceedingly well. In fact, we've graded an A +, the first one A +, that we gave since April of 2025. So it's a really strong demand at these higher yield levels here. And so I suspect that even if the Treasury Department keeps on doing$6 billion-ish, ultimately the market will find an equilibrium. And I think we found a range that we're going to continue to trade in here for at least a little while.

21:59So Treasury Secretary Besson's plan is working? Yeah. Good move. Well, so here's the thing, Tim. It's really difficult for it to work at these size levels. I think that in order to get long-end yields down - Like it's a knife at a gunfight. Right. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. It's like, you know, or there's a caliber issue. If you go back to the Charlton Heston gun metaphor, you know, ultimately he's shooting, you know, BB guns instead of, you know, shooting a, you know, a bigger, a bigger round. I think ultimately he needs to do$10 billion or more in order to get yields lower. And even then, I'm not sure that it's going to work in a very significant way because people are still concerned about the deficit.

22:46And most importantly, the reason why yields are where they are today is that nominal growth is pretty good, right? Nominal growth rates are upwards of 5 % and 6%, depending on how you measure growth in the U.S. And so it's completely reasonable for you as a bond investor to price the 30-year bond at five or a little bit over 5 % here. Huh. Okay. You know, it's funny because we just had a big, long discussion about the K-shaped economy. And it just, you know, I'm just curious, higher rates, the impact on the economy, what it means for individuals. I mean, somebody came back to us, a loyal viewer.

23:31And I mean, are we wrong to think that everything is awesome? So, I mean, everything's not awesome, right? And again, like, you know, in aggregate, the economy is doing OK. But you're right, right? And there's always people who are left behind, especially when there's technological change and you have certain segments of the economy that do very well and others that don't do very well. I mean, the 1990s, for example, manufacturing did really poorly, but you had, you know, technology did exceedingly well. So, you know, you do have your winners and losers as you have this creative destruction in the economy and, you know, move to new paradigms and new ways of doing business.

24:13I think from where interest rates are today, Carol, since that's obviously my bailiwick, yes, it will affect and these higher interest rates are going to affect things like the housing market. And it's certainly going to affect things like housing affordability in some ways. But even that, right, it's never one thing. And we always try to, I think, narrow things down to lowest common denominator. What is the one thing that if we changed it, everything would change and be better? That's not true, right? Because the bigger issue in housing, at least according to Eric Edelberg, who does mortgage strategy for us as well as other folks here at BI, it's really a supply problem.

24:51We don't have enough housing in the areas where that housing is demanded to be able to stabilize or bring prices down regardless of the interest rate. An extra 25 or 50 basis points over a 30-year mortgage based on a 30-year mortgage rate, that's not the impediment to people buying houses. It's the large down payments that they have to make. And it's the fact that the overall payment is so high. You know, an extra, like I said, an extra 50 or even 100 basis points lower mortgage rates not going to all of a sudden mean that everyone in the world can afford a mortgage. Hey, before we go, got about a minute left here.

25:27The Treasury Secretary, when it comes to the Japanese currency, what do we need to understand about this? This relationship that's certainly very important to traders. And I think about the carry trade. It's just been such a part of our life. Ira, what is it we need to understand about what he's up to? And is this good or bad? Well, it's not only him. You know, oftentimes you have ministries of finance, which in our case is the Treasury Department. They coordinate efforts in order to intervene in markets. And that's exactly what's going on here. Because, you know, Secretary Bessett wouldn't be doing this unilaterally if the Ministry of Finance in Japan wasn't doing the same thing.

26:05And look, for a very long time, the Japanese were buying U.S. dollars in order to keep the yen artificially low when it would have been strengthening. And now they're just going in the other direction. It's completely natural, right? The reason why they have a trillion dollars of treasuries and the Ministry of Finance owns so many T-bills is because they need to use them at times like this when their currency is very weak and they want to go the other direction. completely normal types of things in my view. All right. So glad to hear that and check in with you. Hey, Ira Buell, thank you so much.

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26:42I'm upset that there was no Planet of the Apes reference from Ira. No, you said, didn't you say it was a different movie? We're back in a moment. Some people treat ChatGPT like some kind of smart search engine, and some use it to get work done. ChatGPT Work is a new way of working in ChatGPT that can take action across your apps and files, stay with a project for hours if needed, and turn a goal into finished work. It's designed to help you move from a chaotic starting point to a reviewable first version. So all the source materials, briefs, and scattered information that you have to grind through to turn into something useful can just become something useful.

27:23Put ChatGPT to work on your most ambitious ideas and projects. Get started at ChatGPT.com by selecting Work Mode, available on Plus and Pro plans. Let's talk about healthcare for a second. It doesn't always work the way people expect it to. If you've ever waited on a prescription refill or had a hard time getting the care you needed, you know the feeling. The system should just work better for everyone. That's exactly what the people at Optum are trying to do every day. They're a healthcare company linking patient care and pharmacy services and using data and technology to drive the whole system so care is connected, not complicated.

28:00for patients and providers. Things like making it easier to get care that looks at the whole person, from primary care doctors to mental health support and even in-home care, and then using technology to make sure they all work together. Technology designed to help doctors spend less time on busy work and more time with their patients. And those prescriptions? Optum is working to bring costs down, save patients money, and make it easier to get refills. Little by little, Optum is helping make healthcare work as one for everyone. Head to business.optum.com to see how. This is Alexis Christopoulos for Bloomberg Surveillance.

28:36AI is everywhere. Outcomes are not. Not because AI doesn't work, but because AI hasn't reached the workflows yet. The campaigns, the launches, the quarterly planning. Those workflows are still run by humans alone. AI is making individuals faster, but it's not making businesses more productive. That's the gap Asana is built to close. Asana is the operating system for human agent teams, your easy button for AI productivity across every team. Ready-to-go AI teammates pre-built for marketing, ops, and IT. No prompt engineering, no setup. They show up where the work is happening, already onboarded in your workflows, ready to deliver.

29:16And the more they work with your team, the smarter they get. With Asana, your whole company can work on the same plan towards the same goal, whether you're a team of 10 or 10 ,000. Asana, where humans and agents workflow together. Try it at asana.com. That's A-S-A-N-A dot com. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast. Catch us live weekday afternoons from 2 to 5 Eastern. Listen on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business App. Or watch us live on YouTube. Hey, check out his Twitter or Twitter, Twitter, Twitter. I don't know what you call it. X is what Elon wants us to call it.

29:54X accounting. It just doesn't roll off my tongue. Neither does Twitter. But you'll see posts reminding us about the K-shaped economy, in particular what's at the top of the K. And I just want to throw some out there because it's really caught my attention. Stories about more money than they ever imagined and no clue how to spend it. And this got into the share sales at OpenAI and Anthropic, how it's minted hundreds of millionaires and how they're splurging on computer hardware and espresso machines. Another post highlighted a story with the headline, the latest wealth flex big trees. This talked about rich property owners spending huge sums on full grown oaks and more.

30:31They don't have the time or patience to watch them grow. Exactly. And then there was a New York Post story. And our next guest commenting that on this story, surging AI wealth is creating a mansion shortage in San Francisco. The reason we bring it up is because we have a lot of folks coming on air and maybe disputing the K-shaped economy, including our U.S. Treasury Secretary. So we are delighted to have back with us Peter Atwater. He's president of Financial Insights, adjunct lecturer of economics over at the College of William and Mary, author of The Confidence Map, Charting a Path from Chaos to Clarity, a book that really digs deep into decision making.

31:06I hope I didn't embarrass you by doing that. But every time it crosses, it makes me stop and think, because there are folks that say, everything's great. Market's doing well. Economy's doing well. Labor market's doing well. Tell us a little bit about your thinking, because we have had the Treasury Secretary, Scott Benson, downplaying the impact of inflation on lower income Americans. And he declared recently that the K-shaped economy is a thing of the past. He talks about a C-shaped economy. What's your read on all of this? There is probably no one, Carol, who would like the K-shaped economy to be done than me.

31:42When I started talking about it six years ago, it was with fear. Because I know what happens when you have invincibility at one end of the economy and despair at the other. And so I watch every day to see how are people spending money? How are they living their lives? And this goes beyond this wage data point or that inflationary data point. I'm looking at how do people live. And what we see day in and day out is one excess after another at the very top of the economy. And more so, those at the bottom can't help but see it. Meanwhile, we have high gas prices. We have rising food prices. I have children who are talking about affordability of a home.

32:40Right. Those at the bottom, those who are beginning, are feeling increasingly desperate. And what makes this moment to me so interesting is that if the post-pandemic K-shaped economy was about uncertainty, this is about powerlessness. And I'm seeing it now getting expressed in the pushback to data centers, the pushback to flock cameras. The sense that those above have control and those below are powerless is now resulting in a very purple bottom coming together to say, we've had enough. And they're starting in their neighborhoods. They're starting locally, as grassroots movements always do. Does the data center pushback play into that?

33:37Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, this is people saying in my yard, in my town, for me, this is very personal, that real tangible costs are immediate and they threaten my community, they threaten my job. Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, they're obsessing about the long-term potential. We have abstraction that is very appealing to those with confidence, and we have tangible costs that are deeply troubling to Main Street. Is it fair to say then that the introduction of this new technology, AI, in your view, is widening that K? It's defining the K. If you tell me how you feel about AI, I know where on the K you are.

34:26Because there's no middle. You're either very pro or very against. And what's interesting is we're now seeing policymakers forced to respond. So article today about states thinking about repealing tax benefits. You're seeing bipartisan pushback among policymakers on the data front. And this is significant because I think it reflects the fact that the bottom of the K is purple. And they're finding ways where the common experience is now uniting them. Let's play it out. If we ignore the bottom leg of the K shape, what's the cost of that? Well, we are largely ignoring them. I mean, it's fascinating to me.

35:18We're eight weeks from the midterms. And neither party has a coherent or compelling resonant message on affordability. Meanwhile, those at the bottom are filling up at the pumps, seeing numbers they haven't seen in a while. They're very aware of the costs of food rising. Many are starting to think about, do I need another job? And so we're ignoring them. but they are not sitting here anymore willing to be powerless. And they're getting really tired of the blame game. Economy is very strong. Let's go back to, again, it does feel like two Americas. There are two Americas. And so for those at the top, the economy is wonderful.

36:11And we shouldn't disparage that. We shouldn't feel bad about that. We should be thankful for that. I mean, And today it is sustaining this economy. So we need that. But we also need to be mindful of how inflation is eroding the confidence of those below. And just the sheer numbers of people. It's wonderful to see an economy doing well at the top. But it's a relative few. and we are intensely dependent on them because the K has gone on so long that businesses have adapted to that as if that is going to be reality forever. What shrinks the K back if that's even possible? So we need to be thinking about how do we restore skills for those at the bottom?

37:13How do we create a visible series of rungs that enable people to see that you can start at the bottom and work your way to a better job, a better position? And we need to recognize that AI is going to require a massive retooling, not only for those at the bottom, but for many, many more further up. And so we need to be mindful of the risk that there are some on the arm of the K today who are going to fall from it. Right. White-collar jobs in particular. There are white-collar jobs that are going to change. You know, one of the things I want to ask you, and you do teach at William & Mary, and full disclosure, my daughter went there.

38:01I always like to lay that out. But I do think about, I was talking with my brother last night, and I'm of a generation. My dad fought in the war, had a two-year associate's, and had an incredible career. And his plan was he wanted all of his kids to go through college. And I think for all of us, it did make a difference. But I think today, I don't, we've told people, get a college education and your life is set. Do we need to broaden out? Like, what do we need to do? Yeah, we're going to need to redefine what the college experience looks like. because today there is a want for vocational training that we need to be able to demonstrate at a university level that a degree equals a job and a job now.

38:46At the same time, universities play a critical role in job creation in the future. The research that happens, The initiatives that can only be supported in an academic environment become the technologies of the future. And so I see universities needing to be both mindful of what the need is today, but not lose sight of their role in sustaining this into the future. And so I'm watching a lot of universities losing the focus on research, not appreciating that it's not and, it's not or, it's and. Right. You have to be both. We're going to talk about retirement next with our next guest. And I am curious how you think the K-shaped economy impacts where these young people choose to put their money, their savings, if they have any.

39:51Do they take a more nihilistic approach? And so we're going to see more gambling, prediction markets playing, or do we actually see more people maybe trying to save because they feel so bad about the economy? So you're seeing a couple of things. with rent being what it is. You're seeing individuals taking whatever excess they have and putting it into the market rather than putting it into a home. And so there is a clear belief among younger Americans that the stock market is the only way to get ahead. And the only way you do it quickly is through leverage, is through options, is through things that create a lot more wealth today, but also have an enormous amount of relative risk versus your traditional, I'm saving for retirement over the next 40 years in a 60-40 portfolio.

40:52All right, before you leave, because you always post books, and my dream is to do a segment where you come on with authors, because I love, what are you reading right now, real quickly? I just finished reading Nir Eyal's book on beliefs. You did? Okay. And I love the idea of beliefs as what really takes us between how we feel and what we do. And that stories are the way we exchange beliefs. But the critical role of beliefs in our decision-making process. Really been wonderful. A pleasure. You're off in remote. Love that you are in studio. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Peter Atwater, President of Financial Insights, Adjunct Lecturer of Economics over at the College of William & Mary.

41:37He is the author of The Confidence Map, Charting a Path from Chaos to Clarity. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Businessweek Daily coming up after this.

41:50Some people treat ChatGPT like some kind of smart search engine, and some use it to get work done. ChatGPT Work is a new way of working in ChatGPT that can take action across your apps and files, stay with a project for hours if needed, and turn a goal into finished work. It's designed to help you move from a chaotic starting point to a reviewable first version. So all the source materials, briefs, and scattered information that you have to grind through to turn into something useful can just become something useful. Put ChatGPT to work on your most ambitious ideas and projects. Get started at ChachiPT.com by selecting Work Mode, available on Plus and Pro plans.

42:32Let's talk about healthcare for a second. It doesn't always work the way people expect it to. If you've ever waited on a prescription refill or had a hard time getting the care you needed, you know the feeling. The system should just work better for everyone. That's exactly what the people at Optum are trying to do every day. They're a healthcare company linking patient care and pharmacy services and using data and technology to drive the whole system. So care is connected, not complicated, for patients and providers. Things like making it easier to get care that looks at the whole person, from primary care doctors to mental health support and even in-home care, and then using technology to make sure they all work together.

43:11Technology designed to help doctors spend less time on busy work and more time with their patients. And those prescriptions? Optum is working to bring costs down, save patients money, and make it easier to get refills. Little by little, Optum is helping make healthcare work as one for everyone. Head to business.optum.com to see how. This is Alexis Christopoulos for Bloomberg Surveillance. AI is everywhere. Outcomes are not. Not because AI doesn't work, but because AI hasn't reached the workflows yet. The campaigns, the launches, the quarterly planning. Those workflows are still run by humans alone.

43:48AI is making individuals faster, but it's not making businesses more productive. That's the gap Asana is built to close. Asana is the operating system for human agent teams, your easy button for AI productivity across every team. Ready-to-go AI teammates pre-built for marketing, ops, and IT. No prompt engineering, no setup. They show up where the work is happening, already onboarded in your workflows, ready to deliver. And the more they work with your team, the smarter they get. With Asana, your whole company can work on the same plan towards the same goal, whether you're a team of 10 or 10 ,000.

44:24Asana, where humans and agents workflow together. Try it at asana.com. That's A-S-A-N-A dot com. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast. Catch us live weekday afternoons from 2 to 5 Eastern. Listen on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business App. Or watch us live on YouTube. So from the course and the field to the courts and the stage. Time to talk sports. Yeah, lots to cover. With us, the co-host of the Business of Sports podcast, he's Randall Williams. He's a Bloomberg News senior reporter. Let's start with the course. Can we start with the golf course?

45:02Yeah, we can start with the golf course. First of all, before we start there, you all's level of excitement in talking sports has changed so much. It is amazing. Can I tell you? I love sports. I grew up talking a lot of sports. I was, okay, my life has been changed by a couple things. One is Randall. I know. You have great energy. Two is having a kid who's obsessed with sports. Three is being in New York over the last six months. Yeah, it's been huge. It's been unbelievable. So anyway. Back to the course. Back to the course. All right, so to the golf course. Live golf. I mean, man, right? Came out, felt like this was going to disrupt everything as we knew in terms of global golf.

45:37And here we are, what? Filing for bankruptcy yesterday. Yeah, I've been using a rocket ship analogy and I came up with the next evolution today. Imagine the Hubble spaceship takes off and it has a$5 billion engine and then that engine just falls off. Well, what's going to happen? It's either going to continue to go out of space, into outer space, or it's going to fall back down to Earth. And I think that slowly but surely throughout the course of the summer, Liv fell back down and now we are at bankruptcy. I was going to say, no more mulligans left or there's been too many already? I don't think anybody's coming to save him.

46:09I think, look, they're going to... No future? That's it? No, they're going to have another iteration next year. But how many times have we seen this happen in sports where there is a rival, a challenger league. An NFL rival years ago. Right, the XFL. And the XFL, even the new version of it is now called the UFL. And isn't really directly looking to compete with the NFL. Live Golf's purpose was to destroy the PGA Tour and to be a direct competitor. And that's why they had the merger. That didn't happen. And now that died. And now Live Golf is on its last life. So great news for the PGA. Oh, the PGA Tour is thrilled.

46:43And it's sort of proof that, you know, it's not big enough for the two of us? I think that the PGA Tour revitalized itself. And we sat in this same studio not too long ago with their CEO, Brian Rolap, and he said there is no merger. If they were interested in saving Liv Golf in the business, they could have done it. They didn't. So, okay, we have a lot to talk to, but last thing on this. We got to move on. I know, I know. Shows that it's good to have competition. Because, like you said, PGA revitalized itself. The PGA Tour revitalized extremely and a lot faster than people expected. Will the players all become friends again?

47:15I'm not so sure about that. That's the other side of it. Let's go to the NFL. Season kicking off tonight. Of course. Nah, the league is looking to add more games. Not everybody's on board, though, with this. Yeah, the bottom line is that Roger Goodell has painted this picture to fans that if you add another game, that the Super Bowl will fall on the Sunday before President's Day, making it a national holiday. Now, that's already happening this year because the Super Bowl is on Valentine's Day. Sorry, ladies. However, that's Randall's excuse. We give up so much already. Seriously? But that typically doesn't happen.

47:49And so that's his picture. He would like to add an 18th game. They need to negotiate with the Players Association, which hasn't been ready, and they aren't obligated to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement early. Is it healthy for the players? Of course not. More football. I mean, look, the NFL and the NFLPA are doing a ton to help technology with helmets. You're seeing more and more roll out. But the reality is that outside of combat sports, there probably isn't anything else except for maybe rugby that is as harsh on the body as football. Bring on the AI players. That's all I'm going to say.

48:20I don't want that. I'm just kidding. No, this is the only thing that saves us from AI, truly. Hey, you mentioned football. Yeah, you mentioned football. Let's talk about the other football and Messi doubling down. on ownership of a Spanish team? Yeah, look, Messi is a billionaire, and he has a lot of money, and I think he has more days, God willing, ahead of him. And he will live longer than his playing career was, and so he's going to be looking into how he wants to spend his money. Of course, he has InterMiami that he's heavily involved in, and we'll see where else he's going to decide to spend that cash.

48:56Next chapter, right? Yeah, we see this in sports. You think Michael Jordan, you think all players actively investing in clubs and teams. This is just another iteration of that. I will be interested to see how active he will be. Messi, of course, does not do a lot of press conferences. I don't think he's done one since his opening one with Inter Miami years ago. And so if he is an owner, how active is he going to be in terms of the front-facing person? Because you welcome someone like Lionel Messi into your ownership group, and now all of a sudden that's all anybody wants to talk about. Yeah, you said he's part of a small group of athletes.

49:29who are estimated worth a billion dollars. He's got the investments. He's got sponsorship. He's got the cut of the Lego that I bought for my son, the messy Lego. I'm sure he gets a little cut of that. So adorable. You got to talk the USO. Okay. I was, I'm so, I don't know if I'm angry. I'm sad. I didn't even stay up late enough to walk. Neither did I. It's too late. It's too late. It's a consistent problem with the tournament in that I think that they are leaning too much to the people that are going to it now. It is still a TV product at the end of the day. And when some of your two biggest stars are playing, and that game started as I was going to bed.

50:02Carlos Alcarez and Ben Shelton. That's crazy. And it's a problem that I can't watch it. I can't enjoy it. If I'm expected to talk about it, you want me to stay up until 3.30 in the morning? That's a serious issue. Also, who wants to go to it? Sorry, the bigger issue. I was going to say, the bigger issue is media rights. How do you sell something where two of your three biggest players, especially an American, is playing at 3.30 in the morning? That's supposed to inspire the next generation of tennis athletes? I don't think so. I'd be pretty ticked off. But the event, the US Open, of course, is extremely successful, but you have to find balance in being the epicenter of sports culture and also optimizing business.

50:39And the balance is off right now. We're going to be the epicenter of sports culture tomorrow with power players. What are you looking forward to? What aren't I looking forward to? It's the most wonderful time of the year. Vanessa and Vanessa Perdomo, Maglione, and I are co-hosting tomorrow for the first time. That's something. And then we'll have a stacked lineup with Jake Paul, Michael Strahan, Constance Schwartz-Marini, Carolyn Tish-Bloggett, as well as Al Tillis and so many other names. Swin Cash, who's a basketball Hall of Famer. We have Randy Shapiro from the Yankees, who's going to be talking college sports.

51:10So it's going to be a lot of fun. And we're talking like everybody knows. That's power players here at Bloomberg headquarters. It's everybody who's involved in sports. Great conversation. It's the best day of the year to be in the office because you get to see all of these people. But we are going to be broadcasting a special edition of Bloomberg Business Week Daily live from Power Players. I always love watching when people come off from doing a panel, like what snacks they swipe on their way out. Come on, the athletes. Is it the gummy bears? No, the athletes. Before we go, who is your betting favorite to attract the biggest crowd tomorrow?

51:38Ooh. I'm going to say there's going to be a surprise person who shows up. Okay. That's what I think. That's news to me. Yeah, I know. It's the Tim Cook one more thing. Wait, Jason Kelly and A-Rod also doing a taping, right? They are. Live taping with Serena Williams' husband, Alexis Ahun. That's going to be kind of interesting. Randall, you rock. Thank you. This is the Bloomberg Business Week Daily podcast. Available on Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts. Listen live weekday afternoons from 2 to 5 p.m. Eastern on Bloomberg.com, the iHeartRadio app, TuneIn, and the Bloomberg Business app.

52:15You can also watch us live every weekday on YouTube and always on the Bloomberg Terminal.

52:28Healthcare doesn't always work great. If you've ever waited on a refill or couldn't schedule an appointment, you get it. That's the kind of stuff Optum is changing. They're using data and technology to integrate patient care, pharmacy, and everything else. So healthcare is connected, not complicated. What's that look like? Cheaper prescriptions that are easier to get and care that looks at the whole person how you need it. Optum is helping make health care work as one for everyone. Learn more at business.optum.com. Game night rush or any night of the week, really. Genius keeps every order moving from online ordering to your kitchen to the front counter.

53:08Big league reliability for any business. That's genius. Yes. It's time to plan ahead and make sure your brand is showing up in ways that can have an impact. 4imprint's promotional products are designed to work as hard as you do and make a lasting impression. From quality apparel, including exclusive brands, to drinkware, tech, and totes, they've got thousands of options to fit your brand and budget. Plus, you get free samples, expert help, and their 360-degree guarantee. So you can be 4imprint certain everything shows up just right, right on time. Explore more at 4imprint.com. 4imprint. 4certain.

From the publisher

Apple Inc. unveiled the iPhone Duo, the company's first foldable smartphone, which will have a 7.6-inch display when unfolded and a 5.4-inch outer screen. The presentation serves as a debut for CEO John Ternus, who took the helm on September 1. Bloomberg Intelligence's Global Head of Technology Research Mandeep Singh and Bloomberg Tech Host Ed Ludlow react to the announcement and discuss what the product launch means for the company.

On today's episode:

  • Mandeep Singh, Bloomberg Intelligence Global Head of Technology Research
  • Ed Ludlow, Bloomberg Tech Host
  • Ira Jersey, Bloomberg Intelligence Chief US Interest Rate Strategist
  • Peter Atwater, Economist & Financial Insyght President
  • Randall Williams, Bloomberg News Senior Reporter & Co-Host of 'Business of Sports' Podcast

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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