NASA Chose iPhone 17 For Its Artemis Moon Mission — But Apple's Real Test Will Be Q2 Earnings This Month

• In February, NASA cleared the iPhone for extended use in orbit, with each Orion crew member reportedly carrying an iPhone 17 Pro Max for personal photos and videos.
• NASA’s iPhone images sparked chatter on X, with users joking that Apple beat Samsung’s “100x Space Zoom” by landing on an actual mission to space.
• Apple’s iPhone 17, launched last September, has been hugely popular for the company.

Apple, Inc. literally got some out-of-this-world marketing over the weekend, with online buzz also boosting the appeal of its already stellar flagship product.

NASA released images from the Artemis II mission that it said were captured on an iPhone 17 Pro Max. Three striking shots, shared on NASA Johnson’s Flickr page, show Earth through the spacecraft window – two featuring the silhouette of astronaut Christina Koch – were taken using the Apple device. 
 

All other photos from the mission on Flickr were taken with cameras, such as the Nikon D5, Nikon Z 9, and GoPro HERO4 Black. Separately, in a video on the NASA Artemis X page, astronaut Victor Glover is seen recording the crew with what appears to be an iPhone. 

NASA’s iPhone images quickly became a talking point on X over the weekend, with many users joking that Apple had beaten Samsung – long known for touting “100x Space Zoom” – for the choice of device on an actual space mission.

“Some phones zoom to the moon, others visit,” said one, with a few defending Samsung, saying its phone could have taken a better picture. Others also pointed out that Samsung supplies displays and memory chips for iPhones, and that “iPhones win, Samsung wins.”

In February, NASA said the iPhone had been cleared for prolonged use in orbit, with reports suggesting that each of the four Orion crew members carries an iPhone 17 Pro Max to capture personal photos and videos.

Artemis II marks NASA’s first crewed journey toward the Moon since 1972, with astronauts set to fly past the lunar far side on Monday. The Orion spacecraft, however, will not attempt a landing and is scheduled to return to Earth on April 10.

Apple’s iPhone Boost Under Scanner In Upcoming Report

The iPhone 17 line, released last September, has been hugely popular for Apple. Revenue from the sale of iPhones rose 23% to $85.3 billion in the December quarter as fans increasingly upgraded to the new model. 

Last month, Apple released a budget model, iPhone 17e, starting at $599, featuring MagSafe, stronger display glass, and 256 GB base storage. 

Now, investors fear that shortages and higher prices of memory chips – a key component of smartphones – would pressure phone-makers and drive prices higher, which would, in turn, impact demand.

Last month, IDC predicted that smartphone shipments would decline nearly 13% year over year to 1.1 billion units in 2026, the lowest volume in more than a decade. “What we are witnessing is not a temporary squeeze, but a tsunami-like shock originating in the memory supply chain,” IDC’s Francisco Jeronimo had said at the time.

Apple, which marked its 50th anniversary last week, is scheduled to report its second-quarter results on April 30. Besides the iPhone segment, investors would be interested in commentary around the company’s still-weak China business and updates on the plan to introduce the long-awaited AI features.

Analysts expect Apple’s revenue to rise 14.4% to $109.1 billion, and adjusted profit to rise 19% to $1.96 per share, according to estimates from Koyfin.

Apple’s stock is down 5.8% year to date, but has fared better than most of the peer Magnificent Seven stocks.

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