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The MacRumors Show: Can OpenAI Really Beat the iPhone?

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This week's episode of The MacRumors Show covers OpenAI's move into hardware and the trade secret lawsuit Apple filed against the company earlier this month.


Apple sued OpenAI in the Northern District of California on July 10, alleging a months-long scheme to obtain confidential information about unreleased products. The complaint centers on OpenAI chief hardware officer Tang Tan, a 24-year Apple veteran who previously led iPhone product design, and former Apple electrical engineer Chang Liu. Apple claims Tan coached recruits on evading its exit-interview security procedures and told at least one employee to bring hardware components to an interview, and that OpenAI persuaded a supplier to apply a proprietary metal-finishing technique to an OpenAI device by falsely stating it had Apple's permission. The filing describes OpenAI's hardware business as "rotten to its core."

The suit follows a souring of the 2024 partnership that brought ChatGPT to Siri, with OpenAI itself weighing legal options against Apple in May. More than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI, including Vision Products Group leader Paul Meade, and former design chief Jony Ive leads design on the hardware lineup through LoveFrom after OpenAI's $6.5 billion acquisition of his startup io Products. Apple has countered with retention bonuses of up to $400,000 and has now sent legal preservation letters to around 40 former employees, suggesting it believes the alleged misappropriation goes beyond those named. OpenAI says it has "no interest in other companies' trade secrets."

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman argues the case is already causing damage ahead of any ruling, deterring Apple engineers from interviewing at OpenAI and making Asian suppliers wary of deepening ties with the company. Ive is not named in the complaint, which Gurman believes was deliberate given Apple's relationship with io Products investor Laurene Powell Jobs.

OpenAI's first device, teased for months by Ive and CEO Sam Altman, is believed to be a portable, screenless smart speaker that is now expected in early 2027 at $200 to $300. Powered by ChatGPT and GPT-Live, it has a rechargeable battery so it can be carried between rooms, a camera for understanding its surroundings, and motorized elements that move on their own to give a sense that the device is alive. OpenAI reportedly does not regard the HomePod or HomePod mini as comparable, and people familiar with the project told Bloomberg the device is unlike anything Apple sells, making infringement unlikely. Apple's own smart home hub is the closest analogue.

Further out, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that OpenAI is developing an "AI agent phone" built around a continuous, context-aware interface rather than individual apps, with the company controlling both the operating system and the hardware. Kuo has since revised his mass production expectation from 2028 to the first half of 2027, projecting combined 2027 and 2028 shipments of around 30 million units. The device is rumored to be a direct iPhone rival.

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If you haven't already listened to the previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up to hear our discussion where we look ahead to the 20th anniversary iPhone, the radically redesigned model that Apple is expected to launch in 2027.

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Article Link: The MacRumors Show: Can OpenAI Really Beat the iPhone?
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/07/24/the-macrumors-show-can-openai-beat-the-iphone/
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A company that has massive, unsustainable debt, very little income, and has not manufactured or brought to market a single consumer hardware product ever is going to replace the world's phones overnight? Color me skeptical. Anyway, ChatGPT is going to be replaced soon enough by Gemini and Chinese models IMO.
 
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Dang…. People chill
Hear all the facts before judging 😱
Apple certainly is not the upright all caring. socially responsible company it pretends to be. Their past is just as stained as most large companies.
Let’s let all the facts be known and the legal and court proceedings play out before casting judgement.
This certainly was an interesting episode for examining subtle facial expressions and body posturing…

✌🏻
 
iansilv said:
No. Open AI is a ****** company run by a sociopath. Apple is a better company run by not a sociopath who actually cares about privacy.
Click to expand...
Not sure Apple cares about privacy all that much I mean they accept billions of dollars from Google annually to set Google as the default search engine in Safari. One of the biggest tracking and data mining companies. Yes they do provide mechanisms to restrict cross platform tracking, enhance privacy etc… obviously Google gets a hefty return for that 20 billion dollars.
Apple excels at PR but remember there are many ways to reach the same objective. ✌🏻
 
I don't think anyone building a "phone" will beat Apple/Google. Apple was able to jump in because it turned the smartphone from a nerdy thing into the most desirable thing. I don't think there is another transformation left in the smartphone, and with the App store and play store, there is no catching up starting in 2026.
 
jclardy said:
I don't think anyone building a "phone" will beat Apple/Google. Apple was able to jump in because it turned the smartphone from a nerdy thing into the most desirable thing. I don't think there is another transformation left in the smartphone, and with the App store and play store, there is no catching up starting in 2026.
Click to expand...

You can tell how far a device company has come when they've long since grown from trying to connect YOU to the device to purchase it to trying to connect you to ANOTHER user, because you both already own the device.
 
That was a good point in the show that if OpenAI do make a phone, the main thing they need to avoid is it simply being a bit unambitious and boring, because then it will just fade away. Made me think of the Amazon Phone and the Facebook Phone!
 
Momento_Mori said:
Dang…. People chill
Hear all the facts before judging 😱
Apple certainly is not the upright all caring. socially responsible company it pretends to be. Their past is just as stained as most large companies.
Let’s let all the facts be known and the legal and court proceedings play out before casting judgement.
This certainly was an interesting episode for examining subtle facial expressions and body posturing…

✌🏻
Click to expand...
I don't love defending a corporation, but do you really think Apple is just as bad as Meta? What has Apple done that’s on the same level as the whole Cambridge Analytica thing?

Apple has done questionable stuff to be sure, but come on, there are surely shades of gray here and not every corp is equally as bad as the others.
 
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It’s interesting to observe how some people are so obsessed with the person at the top and the surrounding politics that it colors their ability to see clearly and understand what's actually happening.

The frenetic pace of AI development, the massive capital spend, the pressure being put forth for public acceptance and engagement is fascinating.

Far too soon to see a clear path forward, ever so slowly Apples position is being revealed. One thing is relatively certain, one way or another the Cupertino company will monetize this successfully as they usually do.
 
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It seems like such a massive lift to take on Android and iOS at the moment. The overall smartphone market is declining worldwide. Unless it’s Android, I don’t see how you build out an entire ecosystem from scratch, much less enter the hardware space.
 
Michael Scrip said:
At least the Facebook phone was a phone.

But all these AI companies think we want to talk to speakers, or necklaces, or wristbands without a screen.

I'd argue that the screen is what people like the most about their phone. Screens are great!

Are people gonna play Candy Crush by shouting into the air?

🤣
Click to expand...
I agree. I have a friend who thinks that the future will be conversational AI that's just around you all the time via speakers, earbuds, whatever. Basically the movie HER, I guess. But... how will you look at photos and videos? Doomscroll? Take pics? I read books and articles on my phone all the time; I don't want to listen to them. I don't want my emails to be read to me; I want to read them myself.

Maybe there's an argument to be made for getting away from staring at screens all day; I certainly spend way too much time on my phone. But I also don't want to give up having a pocket-sized camera and screen on me all the time that I can use to read books and read the news and watch TV and take pics...
 
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Reactions: neutrino17
Interesting.

Well, I still like my Apple products, but I can’t say that like Cook or what I see/hear from Apple today much at all. Not anywhere close to what I did in Steve Jobs and Ive era.
 
I don't understand this approach - for most people, their phone is at the center of their lives. The barrier to replace that is MASSIVE. I've switched the AI-app that is powered by my Action Button 3 times this year....
 
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