Apple CEO Tim Cook: There's a 'Lot of Innovation' Left for Future iPhone Development

[Shalev Lazarof]

Foldables.

 

[citysnaps]

no idea, i'm not steve jobs. people would've said the same thing about all those existing products back then but he was able to figure out a way to take a mature product line and make it new and trendy again. Hindsight is 20/20 and i don't doubt that if he were around today, he'd probably 'reinvent' something that'll make us slap our foreheads, and it'll sell like hotcakes.

i mean, are you saying that everything that could be invented has already been invented? or that nothing that's already invented can be improved in a way that'll disrupt its entire industry?
i'm doubtful of that, and while i can't tell you what those industries may be; there are visionaries out there that can; and like him or hate him; that's what he brought to the table. Tim does not bring this to the table.

Absolutely not!

I just wanted to put the devices Jobs introduced into perspective. He "innovated" off other company's tech products (that's not a criticism, by the way, rather, a good thing). Which I suspect many people here don't realize or conveniently forget. Or give credit to the companies/engineers who came up with the original tech.

Back in Apple's early days Jobs was really good at identifying already existing tech products, refining them, and most importantly putting them into and making them work in Apple's ecosystem. Some, though, were flops... Apple's Quicktake Camera, Apple Hi-Fi, Apple iPod Sox, etc. And Apple's ROKR mobile phone. Though working closely with Motorola systems engineers on that gave Apple engineers the knowledge and a *huge* leg up (especially understanding mobile phone air interface standards) to build its first iPhone. Also, Apple's wireless mouse (though the USB connector underneath the mouse is questionable).

My question still stands... If Jobs were still around and CEO of Apple today, what existing tech products do we have and take for granted today that he would innovate off of and come up with a killer product?

As an example, Cook should get some credit for further innovating off iPhone and developing Apple Watch. Fall detection, car crash detection bringing emergency services to a car crash site, health/activity monitoring with warnings, bringing emergency 911 services to iPhone via satellite where there's no cellular coverage, bringing satellite voice communications to iPhone, Apple Pencil and it's refinements over the years for use on iPad, and more. Also... AirPods.

 

[JohnRckr]

Apple and innovation haha what a joke

 

[Juicy Box]

Maybe there is enough smartphone innovation left for Apple to make an iPhone that can be easily used one-handed and fit in my pockets.

 

[gmanist1000]

What else is he gonna say? “iPhone is dead”

 

[klowy79]

What else can he say? The iPhone 10 came out 6 years ago. Since then, no innovation at all. I'm not holding my breath. I'm not even sure he knows what innovation looks like in an iPhone.

 

[ghanwani]

They made it so bad that any undoing of the bad stuff will feel like innovation.

A reminder that iPhone revenue peaked in 2021. The bean counters view this as mature product where you milk the cash cow, not one where you invest for innovation.

 

[stealthytolkien]

really wouldn't have this problem had they not followed Google and combined the URL bar and the search bar. That dot used to be a big ".com" button with no space button when in the URL bar.

Yeah.

Also. When was the last time you actually entered an actual complete URL / entered it all by yourself manually all the way to the m in any browser? lol

 

[Dark_Omen]

Tim shouldn't speak like the people have confidence in him.

• iOS has been in need of a re-design for several years now.
• Apple Intelligence isn't out of Beta yet, but it's already well behind Samsung's AI*.
• My Apple Watch Ultra 2 has yet to have any AI features implemented in it.
• The iPad has had such incremental improvements over the last decade, it's laughable.

* If we're being honest here, Apple Intelligence has been a flop. It won't work well until Siri is removed from iOS entirely. Nobody has confidence in Siri because it is still a very stupid system. The "relay" to ChatGPT isn't user-friendly. Apple was better off integrating ChatGPT into iOS entirely... Through the keyboard, through commands, and questions given by the user. Apple is doing the same mistake(s) EA has done with Madden... It operates on legacy code and gives out a mediocre experience in return.

 

[citysnaps]

Apple and innovation haha what a joke

A joke? How about iOS 18.3 bringing Starlink space-based satellite service to iPhone? And last year, Globalstar satellite service.

 

[furou]

iPhone 18 mini pro confirmed.

 

[TruthAboveAllElse]

Tim Cook doesn't care about innovation on the iPhone. For example, the latest iPhone 16 is using practically the same design as the iPhone 11. A more honest name for the iPhone 16 would be iPhone 11sssss.

Aside from not caring about innovation, Cook is clueless when it comes to innovation. Clueless Cook is CEO of Apple, yet failed to realize that Apple's skeuomorphic design on iOS and Mac OS X was based on four decades of painstaking research on user-friendliness. Clueless Cook allowed Jony Ive to completely get rid of skeuomorphic design and replace it with that user-unfriendly monstrosity known as flat design, which was pioneered by Microsoft. Yes, under Steve Jobs, Microsoft copied Apple, but under Clueless Cook, Apple copied Microsoft.

The most innovation-focused employee Apple had was the head of iOS, Scott Forstall. Forstall was the most Jobs-like employee at Apple. Clueless Cook was too clueless to realize Forstall's value when it comes to innovation, and thus Cook fired Forstall.

Cook only cares about maximizing profits for shareholders, and he has correctly realized that he can do that by rejecting innovation. Cook correctly understands that by saving money by not innovating, and also by not passing those savings on to customers (and by also sometimes going even further by raising prices), he can increase profits even further.

Actions speak louder than words. Just because Cook says the word "innovation" doesn't mean he really cares about it. Innovation often requires being willing to make less in profits. Cook is not willing to do that because he cares about shareholders more than customers. Jobs was the opposite because he cared about customers more than shareholders. That's a reason why Jobs made less money for shareholders than Cook, and that's a reason why Apple's products under Jobs were more innovative.

No, it is basically the same design as the iPhone 12, not the iPhone 11. If you complain that any phone that is almost bezelless and a rectangle is basically the same, I cannot agree. There was a change in the design language, not merely tweaks, when iPhone 12 came out. Since then there has not been a design language change in iPhones.

Jobs "innovated" off of products that already existed at the time.

There were desktop computers before Mac (which was actually inspired by PARC's (Palo Alto Research Center) graphical interface computer and mouse, portable music players before iPod, mobile phones before iPhone, portable/laptop computers before the PowerBook 100, tablets before iPad, digital watches before Apple's Watch.

Based on the above... my question would be what existing tech products are there today that Jobs could innovate off of?

Well, yeah, that was his genius. Apple still echos this. Apple does best when they find new emerging tech (typically invented by others) and then streamline it into a polished product, with good UX innovations.

Macintosh is basically the same UI as modern desktops / laptops. Xerox Star is quite different.

Multitouch and how it has been integrated into phone UIs is similar.

Doesn't Tim Cook say this literally every year? As a matter of fact, I think he is legally obligated to their shareholders to say crap like this.

He is legally obligated not to mislead shareholders. If he thought Apple didn’t have a good pipeline he wouldn’t be allowed to say they did.

 

[citysnaps]

Maybe there is enough smartphone innovation left for Apple to make an iPhone that can be easily used one-handed and fit in my pockets.

You may see that in the upcoming iPhone 17 Air. I'm hoping that's the case as well.

 

[I7guy]

They made it so bad that any undoing of the bad stuff will feel like innovation.

A reminder that iPhone revenue peaked in 2021. The bean counters view this as mature product where you milk the cash cow, not one where you invest for innovation.

The bean counters view this as a product to invest more resources. Magicians pull rabbits out of their hats. One cannot and companies cannot pull innovation out of their posteriors.

 

[I7guy]

Tim shouldn't speak like the people have confidence in him.

The people and the board have confidence in him. The MR vocal minority don’t and their voices don’t carry much weight at apple.

• iOS has been in need of a re-design for several years now.

Well it’s been getting some love, whether you like the direction or not is irrelevant.

• Apple Intelligence isn't out of Beta yet, but it's already well behind Samsung's AI*.

Well not really.

• My Apple Watch Ultra 2 has yet to have any AI features implemented in it.

Any other watch has AI? That does something useful? Do you really want battery sucking ai on your watch?

• The iPad has had such incremental improvements over the last decade, it's laughable.

And yet it’s selling well.

* If we're being honest here, Apple Intelligence has been a flop.

If you are spouting your opinion. Don’t include me in you’re “we”.

It won't work well until Siri is removed from iOS entirely.

I doubt that will happen. Apple vision of ai it seems is not a direct pipeline to ChatGPT.

Nobody has confidence in Siri because it is still a very stupid system.

I don’t have confidence in any assistant or ai. What is your point? You would trust results sight unseen?

The "relay" to ChatGPT isn't user-friendly.

It will be better over time.

Apple was better off integrating ChatGPT into iOS entirely... Through the keyboard, through commands, and questions given by the user. Apple is doing the same mistake(s) EA has done with Madden... It operates on legacy code and gives out a mediocre experience in return.

To you it’s a mediocre experience and you’re within your right to move to a platform that is exciting, has direct ChatGPT integration, doesn’t use Siri, etc.

 

[ghanwani]

Apple's buybacks

https://twitter.com/x/status/1885695344429719767

 

[ghanwani]

The bean counters view this as a product to invest more resources. Magicians pull rabbits out of their hats. One cannot and companies cannot pull innovation out of their posteriors.

Huh? You can see innovations from other phone makers from foldable phones to e-ink-like displays, and there are tons of others. Apple is playing it safe with incremental improvements, and instead locking in their user base through their walled eco system. It is very clear they are lagging in the industry in ALL their products.

 

[I7guy]

Apple's buybacks

https://twitter.com/x/status/1885695344429719767

Apple creating shareholder value.

 

[ghanwani]

Apple creating shareholder value.

If that is your definition of shareholder value, Microstrategy is doing a much better job. So even there, Apple is falling short.

 

[cocoua]

Great! Make the iPhone Pro Max work with an Apple Pencil.

The only reason I follow Samsung Galaxy updates closely

 

[I7guy]

Huh? You can see innovations from other phone makers from foldable phones to e-ink-like displays, and there are tons of others. Apple is playing it safe with incremental improvements, and instead locking in their user base through their walled eco system. It is very clear they are lagging in the industry in ALL their products.

Anyone that’s followed apple for a while understands they just don’t throw specs into their products. Your definition of innovation is seemingly different than apples. And that’s okay, but don’t expect apple to change how they do business based on one internet post.

The record financials this quarter should indicate those who buy apples products and services don’t view this the same as you.

 

[I7guy]

If that is your definition of shareholder value, Microstrategy is doing a much better job. So even there, Apple is falling short.

It’s not about a horse race to the finish line, it’s about what apple believes is the best course of action even though some don’t agree.

 

[ghanwani]

Anyone that’s followed apple for a while understands they just don’t throw specs into their products. Your definition of innovation is seemingly different than apples. And that’s okay, but don’t expect apple to change how they do business based on one internet post.

The record financials this quarter should indicate those who buy apples products and services don’t view this the same as you.

Really?

The iPhone maker saw a 2% decline in year-over-year sales, despite the broader smartphone market seeing 4% growth, as Chinese brands like Xiaomi showed remarkable growth of 12% during the same period.

Apple's Global Smartphone Share Slips as Chinese Rivals Surge

Apple's global smartphone market share declined to 18% in 2024, down from 19% the previous year, while Chinese manufacturers expanded their...

www.macrumors.com

 

[I7guy]

Really?

The iPhone maker saw a 2% decline in year-over-year sales, despite the broader smartphone market seeing 4% growth, as Chinese brands like Xiaomi showed remarkable growth of 12% during the same period.

Apple's Global Smartphone Share Slips as Chinese Rivals Surge

Apple's global smartphone market share declined to 18% in 2024, down from 19% the previous year, while Chinese manufacturers expanded their...

www.macrumors.com

And yet there were still record financials. What does that tell you. Appple is pivoting away from the iPhone as its sole source of revenue in a saturated market and can make up shortfalls elsewhere in its offerings. The record financials should give one a clue about this.

But sure hang your entire argument on a decline of iPhone revenue that “apple is not innovating” a therefore “doomed”.

 

[surferfb]

Really?

The iPhone maker saw a 2% decline in year-over-year sales, despite the broader smartphone market seeing 4% growth, as Chinese brands like Xiaomi showed remarkable growth of 12% during the same period.

Apple's Global Smartphone Share Slips as Chinese Rivals Surge

Apple's global smartphone market share declined to 18% in 2024, down from 19% the previous year, while Chinese manufacturers expanded their...

www.macrumors.com

Sure, Chinese manufacturers have been doing better in the Chinese market. But that doesn’t have anything to do with what you’re calling “innovation”. And Apple did set a record quarter, as announced Thursday.