Bank of America is warning that Meta’s Muse AI agent could cut into the money Apple makes after the iPhone sale. Apple shares fell 1.6% on Tuesday as investors read a new research note on the risk.
The note comes from Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan and is summarized on Yahoo Finance. Mohan expects Apple to hold onto its hardware business. His concern is the discovery, referral and purchase steps that feed the App Store, Apple Pay and Services revenue, since an AI agent that sits between a shopper and a store can take over all three.
Bank of America Thinks Meta Muse Could Pull Transaction Revenue Away From Apple
Meta launched Muse, its personal AI agent, on September 8, 2026. It passed 2.5 million downloads in its first two weeks and reached the top of the US iOS free app chart.
Muse can open a browser, fill out forms, negotiate, and keep working in the background after the user closes the app. Meta has also unveiled the Muse Charm keychain device, and Muse now has a native Mac app with file and message access.
Mohan points to the retail partners as the reason to take Muse seriously. Shopify opened its full catalog and Shop Pay to the agent, and Expedia and PayPal signed on. Amazon blocked it outright.
His reasoning is that the agent decides which merchant gets the sale. Whoever owns the agent then collects the routing revenue that used to go to operating systems, search engines and app stores.
Siri AI Arrived Six Days After Muse and Still Lacks Background Tasks
Apple’s answer is the rebuilt Siri AI that shipped with iOS 27 on September 14, 2026. It runs on Apple Foundation Models built from custom Google Gemini models, with on-device processing alongside Private Cloud Compute.
Mohan lists three gaps in Siri AI right now:
- Persistent background tasks
- Broad third-party action coverage
- A dedicated agent payment rail
Mohan says hardware is not the constraint, since a current iPhone comfortably exceeds the 2 vCPUs, 8GB of RAM and 100GB of storage that Muse needs. He puts the pressure on release pace.
“Apple ships major software releases annually, while agents improve daily.”
He wrote that Apple’s services, silicon, payments and privacy teams all need to be plugged into Siri AI and moving as fast as competitors. Apple has also confirmed daily usage limits for Siri AI, with a paid tier coming later.
Bank of America kept its Buy rating on Apple. Mohan named the company’s loyal installed base as Siri AI’s main advantage, since those users can trust Apple with their information more readily than a third party.
The next test for Apple is whether it adds capabilities to Siri AI before its next major developer event. Muse’s commerce numbers over the coming quarter will show whether Shopify, Expedia and PayPal are seeing real transaction volume through Muse instead of native iOS surfaces.
