Apple's Next Half-Century: The iPhone as the Unchanging Center of an AI World

Steve Jobs had little patience for anniversaries. When I brought up the Macintosh's 25th in 2008, he dismissed it. "If you look backward in this business, you'll be crushed," he said. "You have to look forward." As Apple marks 50 years, I took that advice and asked two of its top executives, marketing chief Greg Joswiak and hardware engineering lead John Ternus, about the company's next five decades.

Their vision is surprisingly anchored. While the industry chases generative AI and novel hardware, Apple's leadership presents a contrarian bet: the iPhone, not some new gadget, will remain the central device. "The iPhone is not going to go away," Joswiak states. He argues competitors are often just building accessories for it. "We were doing AI before we called it AI," he adds, positioning current iPhones as the premier platform for existing AI tools.

This stance comes as former Apple design lead Jony Ive collaborates with OpenAI on new AI-native hardware. When I suggest future computing may demand purpose-built devices, Joswiak is unmoved. "Nothing you just said is incompatible with the iPhone."

CEO Tim Cook, in a separate conversation, framed the future around continuity. He predicts Apple's core culture and values will persist for 100 or even 1,000 years, outlasting any technological shift. Asked if an AI could ever lead Apple, Cook laughed. "When you look at the leadership page," he said, "there will not be an agentic kind of model on there."

The message is clear. As rivals scramble to define a post-smartphone era, Apple is betting its most iconic product will still be in pockets—and perhaps on desks—when the company turns 100.

Source: Wired