Foreign media reports that Apple's new CEO, John Ternus, in his first keynote speech, clearly placed iPhone back at the center of the company's product strategy. His judgment is that in the AI era, there is no device more suitable to serve as a personal intelligent hub than iPhone. This also means that Apple has no plans to let iPhone fall to a secondary role.
Responding to the doubts about “iPhone being outdated”
This statement directly responds to a series of recent doubts regarding Apple: with the emergence of generative AI, wearable devices, and new forms of hardware, whether iPhone is nearing the end of its platform lifecycle. The article argues that the core message of Ternus is clear: Apple does not accept this premise, and instead chooses to continue building on iPhone to create the next phase of AI experience.
Unlike his predecessor Tim Cook, who tried to emphasize to Wall Street that "Apple is more than just iPhone", Ternus's approach this time seems to be a reverse adjustment. Instead of downplaying the significance of iPhone, he defined it as the core entry point that connects personal data, computing power, cameras, the internet, and on-device AI.
Similar to Steve Jobs' early strategies
The article compares this approach with Steve Jobs’ actions in 2001. At that time, there were also doubts about the prospects of personal computers from the outside world, but Jobs proposed the concept of a “digital hub,” emphasizing that Mac would not fall out of the central position but would become the core that connects cameras, videocameras, and music devices.
The subsequent launch of iPod did not diminish the significance of Mac; instead, it helped Apple embark on a new round of growth and ultimately led to the birth of iPhone. Based on this, the article argues that Ternus is now facing similar issues to those that Steve Jobs encountered back then: as the outside world continuously asks "what is the next device," Apple must first prove that its existing core devices still have the potential for further development.
AI The era still bets on mobile entry points
Ternus listed in his speech the conditions that, in his view, an ideal intelligent hub should possess, including a powerful processor, a high-resolution camera, continuous networking capability, and AI on the edge side. By this standard, iPhone remains the most mature option in Apple's current product line.
The article argues that this is also Apple's real advantage in the AI competition. Compared to new hardware that requires re-educating users, smartphones have already become a high-frequency entry point, combining portability and computing power. For most users, the phone remains the personal device that is most difficult to replace.
From this perspective, Ternus is not in a hurry to replace iPhone with some new device, but rather attempts to continue building upon the capabilities of AI on this mature platform. As for whether Apple is still preparing new products similar to the iPod of the past, the article does not provide more evidence. However, it concludes that, at least for now, Apple has chosen to stabilize its central position with iPhone.
