Tim Cook on iPhone's Future: 'There's So Much Left That We Can Do'

[MacRumors]

In an interview with Nikias Molina at New York's Grand Central Terminal last week, Apple's CEO Tim Cook briefly commented on the future of the iPhone.

"There's so much left that we can do with the iPhone," said Cook. "I think it's going to continue to be the center of people's digital lives."

While this is just typical corporate speak, it is still interesting that Cook thinks the iPhone will remain the core device in people's lives, given that Apple is pushing into new areas like spatial computing. Apple is reportedly also working on things such as augmented reality glasses and an AI-powered pendant without a screen.

Next year, the iPhone turns 20, and the device's popularity is still reaching new heights. iPhone revenue last quarter came in at $85.2 billion, a new all-time high. Cook said iPhone demand during the quarter was "simply staggering."

"iPhone had its best-ever quarter driven by unprecedented demand, with all-time records across every geographic segment," said Cook, in January.

It remains to be seen if there is ever a device that supplants the iPhone, and smartphones in general, but Cook is certainly not worried right now.

"iPhone's going to be around for a very long time," he said.

Article Link: Tim Cook on iPhone's Future: 'There's So Much Left That We Can Do'

 

[MacUserFella]

“So much left we can do” and proceed to make every generation the most incremental upgrade

 

[Spock]

Prove it.

 

[capamac]

Just think of all the emojis left to create.

 

[julesme]

Sure, after all these years, iPhone is still an incredible device, but it would be notably better if Cook & his team could shepherd the (embarrassingly mediocre) Siri out of the 2010s and into the AI era.

 

[JoeG4]

They can put an AI chatbot in apple pay! That'll solve it!

Oh yea, put an AI chatbot in the dialer too.

In fact, AI chatbot in the alarm clock. Have Siri pepper us with AI chatbot crap as we get out of bed. That'll do it. Perfect.

Maybe we can finally have the equivalent of an iPhone Shuffle. Except instead it's iPhone Siri and it only interacts via voice to an AI chatbot.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

"There's so much left that we can do..."

 

[capamac]

"There's so much left we can do..."

 

[Biro]

And yet… I find the iPhone - and all smart phones - less critical in my life with each passing day. It’s like after all of these years of using all of their advanced functions, I’m back to texting and talking just like with a 90’s flip phone. Of course, I’m sure that I’m the outlier.

 

[Mity]

"You see, after the success of liquid glass, we've decided to make the entire phone out of glass. This massively improves the replacement cycle." Tim Cook (probably) to Apple's investors

Or maybe it's an iPhone made from wood. SS > Ti > Al > Wood
Imagine the margins!

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

I’m not sure why there is this big push that Apple (or any other company for that matter) needs to *replace* the smart phone.
Of course, some technology pieces come and go, but not all.
Nothing’s replacing the refrigerator, the car, the television, the door handle, the toilet, the desktop, the laptop, the speaker or the bed any time soon.
So why there is this grasp for a device that’s just going to make the phone, a communication paradigm that has existed since the 1800s, completely obsolete seems a bit strange to me.
Even completely flawless augmented reality glasses are likely not going to replace the smart phone. There are just some interaction methods that picking up the small handheld thing is always going to be preferred.
If anything, the smart phone is just going to diversify the same way other technologies did into different form factors of smartphone as time goes on. We already have slab phones, folding phones, and flipping phones, eventually we may have rolling phones.
Just like how the refrigerator diversified into the mini refrigerator, the refrigerator and freezer combo, side-by-side double door refrigerators, etc.
Or how the computer diversified into desktop computers, towers, all in ones, laptops, tablets…

 

[Zenman12]

I think we are reaching the final stages.

There’s full under-display. Wireless charging replacing cables. Satellite network calling, etc. Beyond battery cellular WiFi increments, I don’t think we’re there, but we are definitely mid-life.

 

[Lioness~]

Such as a new small phone, right Timmy?
I really hope Apple have a Flip-phone coming.

 

[EU-Regulations]

Yes Tim, you could innovate, you just don't do it. Whats the news here ?

 

[ghanwani]

Oh yeah, I myself can think of several. iPhone colors with sparkles in them. A few more out of place lumps to up the ugliness factor. Even more advanced dithering so we can extract 12-bit color from 8-bit hardware.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Which is why we're only going to do one or two changes per year, to milk our customers as much as possible

 

[johnsawyercjs]

"There's so much left we can do..."

I'll take a pterodactyl phone, please

 

[actcyclist]

Yes, basically what the Pixel can do but the iPhone can’t.
The call screening, live translations and AI integration in pixels is years ahead of iPhones.

 

[haunebu]

I really can't wait until penny-pinching Tim Cook retires, so Apple can get back to investing in the development of truly innovative products. Aside from Apple Watch and Vision Pro, the latter of which is genuinely groundbreaking, Tim has been in a caretaker's role... optimizing an existing business. I remember and miss the days when MacRumors was brand new, and we were genuinely interested in rumors because Apple was inventing AMAZING things on a regular basis.

I can't wait for Tim Cook to leave. All he knows how to do is squeeze suppliers and protect profit margins. Apple Silicon? Great - designed to squeeze out Intel. Job well done. C1 modem? Mediocre - designed to squeeze out Qualcomm and aside from some incremental power efficiency, it's less capable and lacks key features. Billions spent for the mere sake of profit margins and out of spite for Qualcomm. Tim's always been an operations guy at his core and it shows. Time for new leadership!

 

[Bungaree.Chubbins]

Just think of all the emojis left to create.

You realise the Unicode Consortium comes up with new emoji, not Apple, right? What do you expect them to do? Ignore new emoji? Make a generic placeholder for ‘emoji not found’ when someone sends you a new one?

 

[winxmac]

Long time Apple users try to imagine Apple with Steve Jobs post-2011 while I don't think there's anyone who would like Apple to be still under Tim Cook with how it turned out for the last 15 years. As early as 2015, Apple should have a new CEO and made Tim Cook just a transitional one.

 

[pcd213]

Despite the larger iPhone updates only occurring every X years, I do think he’s obviously correct. There’s so much more they can do with the iPhone. It’s unlikely that in ten years we will have the BAU single slab of glass+metal but instead perfected dual or triple-folding devices, very thin with amazing battery life. I think it will be many, many years before we fully replace the iPhone with glasses/pendants/earbuds/etc., alone. And I believe for most of us we will be unable to engage with audio, alone. The visual interface is key.

 

[Zeus2018]

Gosh I’m not sure Tim aware of the obvious

 

[Bungaree.Chubbins]

Despite the larger iPhone updates only occurring every X years, I do think he’s obviously correct. There’s so much more they can do with the iPhone. It’s unlikely that in ten years we will have the BAU single slab of glass+metal but instead perfected dual or triple-folding devices, very thin with amazing battery life. I think it will be many, many years before we fully replace the iPhone with glasses/pendants/earbuds/etc., alone. And I believe for most of us we will be unable to engage with audio, alone. The visual interface is key.

Outside of sci-fi and niche use cases, I think folding phones will not become the default phone. They might become popular for a while, but slab phones will prevail. Will they become Apple’s slab of glass, or something else? Who knows.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Make some smaller ones again please!