Apple Intelligence may not be the dud that skeptics thought. And while China pressure is real, other emerging markets are compensating.

Apple executives on Thursday forecast relatively strong sales growth, a sign the company will recover from a dip in iPhone sales as it rolls out artificial intelligence features. The forecast comes after Apple delivered a slight drop in iPhone revenues for the holiday shopping quarter and lagged Wall Street estimates,

Apple reported fiscal first-quarter earnings Thursday. Analysts are focused on iPhone momentum following a sluggish start to the year for Apple's stock.