In March, Apple acquired Warsaw-based MotionVFX, a company building advanced video editing tools, including Apple’s Final Cut Pro. Financial terms unknown, but context of timing is clear—this gives Apple more in-house expertise to compete with Adobe’s Premiere Pro, and Canva’s AI capabilities.
It’ll boost the Creator Studio subscription, a bundle of six creative and four workplace apps.
That is the latest illustration of what has been a theme with Apple’s acquisitions over the years—surgical precision with a preference to “acqui- hire” small teams for talent and patents. As of March 2026, Apple has completed over 120 acquisitions, some more significant than others.
Intel Smartphone Modem Business (2019) – $1 Billion
A pivotal move to bring chip production in-house and reduce reliance on Qualcomm for 5G modems. Last year, the iPhone 16e introduced Apple’s C1 modem, the company finally making a move to developing these modems in house. That’s since been succeeded by C1X (battery life and data speed gains, plus location privacy tweaks in tow) in the iPhone Air, iPhone 17e, and newest iPad Air.
AuthenTec (2012) – $356 Million
This acquisition gave Apple specialised fingerprint sensor technology for the Touch ID fingerprint authentication technology, which debuted on the iPhone 5s a year later. It fundamentally changed mobile security by making biometric authentication mainstream, something that remains pivotal for iPad and Mac computing devices in particular.
Siri (2010) – ~$200 Million
With this standalone app, Apple shifted the mobile interface to voice by integrating the world’s first mainstream virtual assistant directly into iOS, starting with the iPhone 4S. This was much before the whole artificial intelligence (AI) conversation went mainstream. Apple needs a new chapter with Siri, in 2026.
NeXT Computer (1997) – $400 Million
Arguably crucial in more ways than one. It brought Steve Jobs back to Apple and its NeXTSTEP operating system became the foundation for macOS, iOS and subsequently iPadOS, as well see them today.
Q.ai (2026) – ~$2 Billion
Apple’s second-largest acquisition to date, prioritising ‘visual intelligence’; an important part of the Apple Intelligence suite. By interpreting non-verbal cues like the environment, it allows Siri to understand real-world context and results in an interaction that’s supposed to feel more natural.
