Tesla’s troubles continue, as in the first quarter of 2025, the company experienced a 13% drop in vehicle deliveries compared to the previous year, reaching only 337,000 vehicles — the lowest figure since Q2 2022. Competition from Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers is intensifying; investment funds are pulling out since Elon Musk took a central role in the Trump administration; and not all American consumers are happy about it.
With the release of the latest disappointing earnings reports, Musk quickly announced a shift in Tesla’s direction: renewed personal focus on the company, strengthening of the robotics division, and the announcement that the robotaxi will launch on August 8, 2025.
What can Tesla learn from Apple?
Tesla, which began as an electric car manufacturer, is rapidly evolving into a comprehensive technology company, much like Apple. Just as Apple transformed the mobile world with the iPhone, Tesla is transforming transportation and energy.
Apple made the shift from product to service: it started as a company that sold hardware – iPhones, MacBooks, iPads. But beginning in 2015, it started to shift strategically: launching Apple Music, Apple TV+, iCloud, Apple Pay, Arcade, and more. Instead of selling a device every few years, Apple began earning recurring monthly revenue from the same user.
The results were dramatic. A jump in service revenues from $20 billion in 2015 to over $90 billion in 2024. Gross profit margins from services are particularly high — about 70%, compared to 35–40% in hardware. This made Apple less dependent on device sales and more profitable, stable, and cash-generating.
Tesla’s first advantage: Complete control over the entire value chain. Like Apple, Tesla develops both the hardware and software for its products, allowing it to offer a smooth and customized user experience. It manufactures the batteries, motors, and computing systems for its electric cars and integrates all these components seamlessly. In addition, Tesla provides remote software updates for its vehicles, enabling performance and functionality improvements even after the sale.
Beyond cars: Tesla is building an entire ecosystem around renewable energy. It offers products like solar panels, energy storage batteries (Powerwall), and a network of fast-charging stations (Supercharger). In this way, Tesla not only sells cars but also provides energy solutions for homes and businesses, strengthening customer relationships and increasing their dependence on the company’s products.
Another leading area: Autonomous driving. By collecting data from millions of kilometers of driving, Tesla improves its AI systems and advances toward a future where vehicles drive themselves. The investment in the Dojo supercomputer, designed to train machine learning models, highlights Tesla’s commitment to advanced technologies.
If Tesla succeeds in launching a commercial robotaxi service, it won’t just shift from a “vehicle sales” model to a Mobility-as-a-Service model — it will create an entirely new category. Similar to how Apple turned the iPhone into a monthly revenue platform through services, Tesla aims to turn every vehicle into an autonomous robot that generates income — 24/7.
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This Is a Fundamental Difference: Apple sells content, data, and digital access. Tesla will sell physical movement, human time, and real-world presence — which are often more valuable. While digital services are limited by daily consumption time, an autonomous vehicle can “work” nonstop, generating income every hour, everywhere.
The vision
this transforms Tesla from a car brand into an infrastructure company — providing transportation, energy, data, and autonomous solutions. If successful, it won’t just catch up to Apple — it may reinvent the way we move, consume, and interact with the world.
Tesla’s future no longer lies in selling cars — but in leading a model shift that could redefine the company’s entire identity. After Musk’s strategic change, Tesla is no longer just a car company, but a technological infrastructure for an autonomous world.
- Moran Chamsi is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Amplefield Investments, an accomplished executive, Moran has over 15 years of experience in establishing and growing startups and large organizations