Best Stock to Buy Right Now: Apple vs. Alphabet

Tech titans Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) were rivals during the rise of the smartphone era. However, the arrival of a new technological marvel, artificial intelligence (AI), has led to the pair teaming up.

News reports indicate Apple is going to license Alphabet's Gemini AI model to power its Siri voice assistant at a cost of $1 billion annually. This would be a win for Alphabet, whose stock has been a boon for shareholders as the share price soared nearly 60% in 2025 through Dec. 18. In that time, Apple stock was up about 9%.

That said, Apple shares hit an all-time high of $288.62 on Dec. 3, despite previous media perceptions that it's an AI laggard. So, which of these tech goliaths will prove the superior investment amid the age of AI? Let's dig into both companies to find out.

Image source: Getty Images.

Apple's steady AI push

Apple proved the AI revolution is a marathon, not a sprint, when it wrapped up its 2025 fiscal year, ended Sept. 27, with record revenue, despite a choppy push into artificial intelligence. The company reported sales of $416.2 billion, up from $391 billion in the prior year.

This result was helped by record revenue of $102.5 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter, which contributed to strong 13% year-over-year growth in diluted earnings per share to $1.85. The performance shows Apple didn't need a splashy AI solution to sell products.

However, the company realizes its artificial intelligence offerings must continue to improve. It brought in new AI leadership in December, replacing its head of AI strategy with Amar Subramanya. Subramanya comes to Apple with years of experience helping Microsoft and Alphabet build their artificial intelligence capabilities. About this switch, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said, "We believe that this was a major reset ... to get Apple on the right track when it comes to AI."

Even so, the company is already viewed as a rival in the AI space. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, called Apple a major competitor. He sees hardware that supports AI, rather than software, as the battleground for artificial intelligence leadership.

In this regard, Apple is making strides. In October, it released the M5 chip, which was designed to deliver the kind of powerful computing performance needed to support AI on its devices.

Alphabet's intensified AI focus

Like Apple, fellow tech titan Alphabet was seen as struggling to succeed in artificial intelligence after early stumbles in the space. The Google parent made changes to its organization last year to improve its AI approach.

This effort culminated in the November launch of the company's Gemini 3, its most advanced AI yet. The new artificial intelligence model can pick up subtle clues, allowing it to better understand the intent behind a user's Google search.

While Gemini 3's impact won't be known until Q4 results are announced in 2026, the company is already benefiting from its AI efforts to date. According to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, "AI is driving an expansionary moment for Search," explaining that the AI embedded in Google "is already driving incremental total query growth for Search."

Consequently, Google search revenue hit $56.6 billion in Q3, an increase from $49.4 billion in 2024. This helped Alphabet grow Q3 sales by 16% year over year to $102.3 billion.

That's just the start. AI acts as the brains behind many Alphabet products, including its self-driving car business, Waymo. Here, "Waymo clearly is scaling up, particularly in 2026," Pichai said. Its service is expanding to London next year, adding to its Tokyo operations, which were Waymo's first steps internationally.

Picking between Apple and Alphabet stocks

Apple and Alphabet still have many years of growth to look forward to in the hot field of artificial intelligence. The AI industry is projected to achieve a phenomenal 25-fold expansion within a decade, growing from $189 billion in 2023 to $4.8 trillion by 2033.

Given their proven revenue growth in the face of AI competition, such as ChatGPT, investing in both companies is ideal. But if you had to choose one, Alphabet has an edge over Apple when it comes to share price valuation.

Here's a look at each stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, which reflects what investors are paying for every dollar of earnings based on the trailing 12 months.

Data by YCharts. PE Ratio = price-to-earnings.

Alphabet's earnings multiple has been lower than Apple's throughout 2025 and continues to be so despite a rise in its P/E ratio over recent weeks. This makes it a better value over the iPhone maker.

With its new Gemini 3 AI model now live, Alphabet could see further strong sales growth in 2026 as it continues to expand its already promising AI capabilities.

Robert Izquierdo has positions in Alphabet, Apple, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.