Wedbush analysts, including Dan Ives, expect Apple ( AAPL , Financial ) to reap the benefits from strong demand for its AI-powered iPhone 16 for the holiday season. According to the analysts, a company's move into artificial intelligence could catapult its market value to a record $4 trillion by early 2025.

Tech giant Cupertino has projected it will sell more than 240 million iPhones in fiscal year 2025, the highest unit sales ever. Apple's vast installed base of 300 million devices looking for upgrades is starting strongly for iPhone 16, with nearly four years' worth of owners, or 300 million, expected to upgrade in that time period.

Apple closed at $254.49 on Friday, up nearly 2%, extending its year-to-date gain to 37%. Nvidia, Microsoft, and even Amazon fell by the wayside as Apple remains the most valuable company globally, with a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion.

Wedbush continues to back Apple with a $300 price target, saying (and who can blame them?) that the company's services business is strong and its ecosystem is getting harder and harder to pull apart. The analysts also pointed out that owning a piece of the action could help Apple's AI ambitions, which the company is calling Apple Intelligence, as its 2 billion iOS devices worldwide could act as a springboard.

Apple reported a slightly more modest 1 percent revenue growth in fiscal 2024; iPhone sales, however, surged 6 percent year over year to $46.22 billion in the September quarter. The analysts contend that the holiday season is coming up, which will be decisive for Apple's growth trajectory over the next 12 to 18 months.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus .