Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
Iphone Apple

Tim Cook Says 'It's Difficult To See a World' Without iPhones (businessinsider.com) 82

Posted by msmash from the ultimate-nullifier dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: Apple CEO Tim Cook appears unfazed by concerns that advancements in AI could topple the iPhone's dominance. During Thursday's earnings call, Wamsi Moen, an analyst with Bank of America, asked Cook directly how Apple is preparing for a world where dependence on screen-based devices "significantly diminishes," thanks to advances in AI. Cook didn't seem to see an imminent threat to Apple's hero product.

"When you when you think about all the things an iPhone can do, from connecting people to bringing app and game experiences to life, to taking photos and videos, to helping users explore the world and conduct their financial lives and pay for things and so much more, you know, it's difficult to see a world where iPhone's not living in it," Cook said. "And that doesn't mean that we are not thinking about other things as well," Cook added, "but I think that the devices are likely to be complementary devices, not substitution." Apple said yesterday it had sold 3 billion iPhones since the product's launch in 2007

Tim Cook Says 'It's Difficult To See a World' Without iPhones More | Reply

Tim Cook Says 'It's Difficult To See a World' Without iPhones

Comments Filter:

  • screen based devices (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Austerity Empowers ( 669817 ) on Friday August 01, 2025 @04:09PM (#65560978)

    I don't see a world where AI replaces or diminishes display based devices, what kind of dumbass question is that?

    • I remember reading pretty much this exact same quote in 2008, but about smartphones replacing laptops/desktops (device is too small, not powerful enough, no keyboard to type, etc...). It also wasn't long ago people said that things like ChatGPT couldn't ever replace something like Google search, but now more and more people are asking AI questions instead of Google. So while today's AI implementations can't replace or diminish display-based devices, tomorrows might be able to. Yes, they might not be able t

      • Re:screen based devices (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Junta ( 36770 ) on Friday August 01, 2025 @04:48PM (#65561116)

        Except they were kind of right about laptops, most people have a full fledged laptop for 'big interaction', because the phone is fantastic and all, but when the interaction is too complicated, it's a nightmare.

        In terms of 'AI' somehow displacing phones, it would only do so with some as-yet unseen AR glasses that could do the job without being hundreds of grams of gadgetry on your face, combined with maybe a smart ring to provide some sort of tactile feedback to 'virtual interfaces'.

        This is all orthogonal to AI, AI isn't going to make a screen less desirable, whether on a phone or in glasses. If anything, AI makes some things demand screens even more. People don't want to *listen* to voicemail, they want to read a transcription because it is so much faster. Trying to 'skim' is only possible visually. People take voice feedback as a consolation prize, if they are driving or cannot actually look, or *maybe* for audiobook to enjoy the speaker's voice and casual pace for recreational story, but usually people want text to read for speed's sake. This is ignoring visuals which obviously demand screens.

        • most people have a full fledged laptop

          No, they don't. There are many people in the world who don't own or even have access to a personal computer. But they have a phone. However your basic point is correct, the smart phone didn't replace computers for all purposes. But they did make them much less essential.

          I think the question is will AI dramatically reduce the importance of screen based information and communication. I think that is possible. A world where a screen is an auxiliary device rather than the central one is not that hard to imagin

        • Except no one really does "big interaction" with computers in their daily life. And when an interaction is too complicated, it isn't used. It's why many companies make an app/mobile optimized web site, to make it less complicated.

          This is about what the average person uses in their average day with their average device, not what some professional uses to do their professional work on. Honestly, did you use a laptop/desktop to read and reply to these comments, or a smartphone? What about reading the news, loo

          • I'm not saying the AR glasses will never exist, I'm saying that's a separate point from AI.

            Did you read these comments or did you have the phone dictate everything? Why not have it dictate?

            The point is that the "AI replaces phone" is a pretty silly take, because it would need something like the phone to operate, and whatever replaces phones would be able to deal with non AI usage in just a compelling way as AI usage.

            The only way AI replaces phones is if it eliminates the demand for visual feedback complete

    • Analysts have to make themselves seem clever and insightful. If something really represents insightful information for powerful investors, you are not going to hear it in public.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      The Humane AI Pin and the Rabbit AI pin were AI things that were supposed to replace your phone.

      Both companies are now bankrupt and their devices are useless.

      I think they have a ways to go before the phone is replaced.

    • Hello, computer?

    • I don't see a world where AI replaces or diminishes display based devices, what kind of dumbass question is that?

      it's basically all the tech bros saw those "rabbit" and similar devices and they just assumed the public would buy in. To a streaming AI wearable widget with no screen and assuming those are all blowing up about now they have to reconsider the value of a cell phone.

      The problem is no one bought into those POS trashboxes. So they sound dumber than usual.

  • Umm... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ebunga ( 95613 ) on Friday August 01, 2025 @04:18PM (#65561000)

    People aren't going to be paying angry birds while taking a shit by shouting instructions to a chatbot.

  • No it's not (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Tyr07 ( 8900565 ) on Friday August 01, 2025 @04:24PM (#65561020)

    It's really easy to see the world without iPhones. I grew up in that world. It was fine.

    • I will never again live in a world without iPhones.

    • To be fair that world was shit. It's just that this world is shit with iPhones.

    • It's really easy to see the world without iPhones. I grew up in that world. It was fine.

      Except we're just as likely to go back to that as we are for Blockbuster to rise from the dead and replace Netflix.

      Hell, even the return of vinyl records hasn't meant that kids are abandoning Spotify, they're just also collecting these silly large plastic discs and hanging the album covers on their walls.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Tyr07 ( 8900565 )

        I said specifically iPhones, I never said smartphones. What's with this? It's like a mass delusion that a world without iPhones wouldn't have smart phones of any kind. Of course it would.

    • Yeah we did grow up in that world, but who didn't think PDAs were cool in their favourite sci-fi series? There's a lot of convenience smart phones bring which I certainly would not like to give up. For example, I find my phone indispensable when carrying out home repair. I can take photos of my house, make notes, watch instructional videos, ask for advice, and have all that available when I go to the shop as well. I do have some old DIY textbooks too, but my phone's essentially what taught me basic carpentr

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Tyr07 ( 8900565 )

        Well, it said, specifically iPhones, I didn't say without technology and advancements with smart phones or other PDA devices giving more information and function on use.

        Smart phones sure are handy, but I can definitely see a world without iPhones specifically.

        • I think my last reply got eaten. Fair enough though, there's plenty of reasons to dislike Apple. As a developer I shall not ever go back to working with iOS unless not doing so means financial suicide. As a consumer, I have found the iPhone Mini 13 to be so far beyond any other consumer phone that I could never see myself using another device.

  • iPhone's dominance? (Score:3)

    by Savage-Rabbit ( 308260 ) on Friday August 01, 2025 @04:24PM (#65561022)

    ...advancements in AI could topple the iPhone's dominance...

    Android holds around 72% market share and iOS holds around 27%. How is the iPhone 'dominant' or is this just the normal Android user persecution complex shining through.

    • Its an American bank asking an American company in an American newspaper about their market position in America, which last checked was around 62%. It wasn't talking about global market share, which is what you quoted.

      • Re:iPhone's dominance? (Score:5, Funny)

        by Savage-Rabbit ( 308260 ) on Friday August 01, 2025 @04:41PM (#65561082)

        Its an American bank asking an American company in an American newspaper about their market position in America, which last checked was around 62%.

        It wasn't talking about global market share, which is what you quoted.

        Oh, right I forgot that Americans are mostly unaware of the existence of the rest of the universe.

        • They're aware.

          They mostly just don't care.

        • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

          by toxonix ( 1793960 )

          Also, not aware of or don't care how fat they are.
          Not all Americans. Just about the same percentage that own iPhones. No correlation there.

          • Also, not aware of or don't care how fat they are.
            Not all Americans. Just about the same percentage that own iPhones. No correlation there.

            Cool, I've found another angry embittered Android user ...

            • Also, not aware of or don't care how fat they are.
              Not all Americans. Just about the same percentage that own iPhones. No correlation there.

              Cool, I've found another angry embittered Android user ...

              Not exactly much of a challenge.

              • Also, not aware of or don't care how fat they are.
                Not all Americans. Just about the same percentage that own iPhones. No correlation there.

                Cool, I've found another angry embittered Android user ...

                Not exactly much of a challenge.

                True, but I'm collecting the full set, one specimen of each subspecies.

        • When they are talking about the American market, yes. What happens in other markets matter for those markets, and only those markets. No one cares of how things like the EU Data Act when they are talking about how to boost sales or the future potential sales of countries like China, Australia, or the US because it doesn't affect those markets at all. They very much care about the Eu Data Act and how it will affect them in the EU markets though.

    • You're talking OS. They're talking hardware. The iPhone is the best selling phone brand on the planet.

      • You're talking OS. They're talking hardware. The iPhone is the best selling phone brand on the planet.

        For me market domination starts at 51% global market share. Android based phones still outsell the iPhone by 3 to 1.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ebunga ( 95613 )

          Right, but what *brand* of android-based device outsells apple? It's probably not even going to be cell phones, but voip phones in call centers.

    • ...advancements in AI could topple the iPhone's dominance...

      Android holds around 72% market share and iOS holds around 27%. How is the iPhone 'dominant' or is this just the normal Android user persecution complex shining through.

      iPhone is a phone from one company. "Android" is many companies. To be fair, you would need to compare iPhone sales to, for example, Samsung Galaxy sales.

    • ...advancements in AI could topple the iPhone's dominance...

      Android holds around 72% market share and iOS holds around 27%. How is the iPhone 'dominant' or is this just the normal Android user persecution complex shining through.

      A single company, worth 3 trillion dollars, holds 27% of the cellphone market and you don't believe in their dominance?

  • Whatever would we do?!?!

  • Two different technologies (Score:4, Interesting)

    by RogueWarrior65 ( 678876 ) on Friday August 01, 2025 @04:32PM (#65561056)

    One has nothing to do with the other. Don't believe me? Try asking your Amazon Echo to set a timer for some cooking task. How much time do you have left? No idea? Yeah, that's what a headless device is going to look like (no pun intended) and an AI version of that will be worse. AI will take the place of an ordinary search engine just as search engines did to brick and mortar libraries. AI won't replace a screen-based map because it can't give you context nor will it allow you to discover something that's nearby. AI gets things wrong just as often as it does something correctly let alone what you really wanted. The difference is that you are able to make a judgement call. Blind trust in AI is as risky as trusting what wikipedia says on some controversial topic. Sure, AI today has all the flash (no pun intended) that websites had in the early 2000s. But it needs a lot more utility than it has now. Humans still need to be able to make decisions. To quote The Moody Blues "Cold-hearted orb that rules the night, Removes the colours from our sight, Red is grey and yellow, white, But we decide which is right, And which is an illusion"

    That's not to say that the iPhone in its current form will stay that way. When Apple played "Fire, ready, aim", they blew it. When Apple has knocked it out of the park, they waited for the gold rush dust to settle and built something that worked better than you dreamed.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Junta ( 36770 )

      Don't even have to argue about the quality of AI, just recognize that people will want to use a screen to interact with AI. It *might* displace a lot of 'virtual keyboard' interaction or complex UI interaction with natural language on the input side, but people will want the screen output even if AI is driving the visuals.

  • Even Steve Jobs marketed as a three in one project, (An iPod, A phone, and a internet communications device) and that "internet communications device" component of the iPhone has taken over the "phone" part. Even before the official App Store jailbreaks were turning it into a portable computer. I remember having a PlayStation Portable as my first "mobile browser", and it was not good as the iPhone/Android experience we have now for mobile internet.

  • "...that's usually when the ground goes away from under you"

    Another one that applies: "But this boat cannot sink?!"

    When you're this confident / arrogant.. this is usually when The Bad Thing happens.

  • I'm trying to get AI to replace everything tedious. Nope, still too stupid. I don't want to hear anything about "prompt engineering" or "you didn't ask it right"
    How often do they have to ask Computer twice on Star Trek?

    Computer, how many humans are aboard the ship currently?
    Ninety billion, two hundred twenty one million, three-hundred eighty seven thousand, nine hundred and twenty one.
    That's impossible and obviously incorrect. Try again and this time tell me how many people are aboard THIS SHIP CURRENTLY.
    I

    • "Computer" on star trek is fictional. Real life is always going to faded compared to what we can imagine.

      • The computer on Star Trek is not intelligent, it's intelligence is simulated.

        LLMs aren't even that smart. Their intelligence is imagined.

        • LLMs aren't even that smart. Their intelligence is imagined.

          Which makes them an almost perfect simulation of human intelligence.

          • Which makes them an almost perfect simulation of human intelligence.

            Humans aren't infallible, but even pretty stupid people clearly do things when they think that "AI" currently can't. There is at minimum some kind of filtering and going back to the well happening that the LLMs can't manage. I am not ruling out them becoming capable of it in the future, but they are clearly not there now.

            • I was just joking. But more seriously, while AI's flaws are different than humans, its not clear that they have any worse impact on results.
  • wikipedia: The form factor of a mobile phone is its size, shape, and style, as well as the layout and position of its major components.

    The slab or candybar form factor of a mobile phone is the most accessible digital device invented. It's approximately the right size that "anyone" can hold it in one hand. It fits in your pocket. I can be used with one hand. It's a classic form factor that will likely never go away, because it's so widely usable.

    I would compare to stairs. 12 inches deep, 8-9 inches high. The
  • Probably easier to see it when you haven't already won the economic game and trying to set the high score at a level that even French aristocracy would be like "hey, maybe you should tone it down a bit" before the revolution.
  • IPhones are very popular in America, but if you travel the world unlike most Americans, you'll see a world where iPhones are an extreme minority; I can see a world without iPhones by looking outside. Sounds like someone needs to travel more.

    • IPhones are very popular in America, but if you travel the world unlike most Americans, you'll see a world where iPhones are an extreme minority; I can see a world without iPhones by looking outside. Sounds like someone needs to travel more.

      Hahahahah!

      Show us on the doll where the dirty American touched you.

  • I'm sorry Tim Cook has a vision problem and he has difficulting seeing the world without iPhones. My eye doctor, Dr. Katelyn Hurliman, is really great. Perhaps he can take Steve Jobs liver-thieving jet and fly on out to see her. She'll having him seeing 20/20 (corrected) in no time. After all, when you can jump on your jet and go raid foreign dispensaries and transplant spots, who's to stop you from drying early... oh... yeah.

    In my house we have no Microsoft anything. No Windows. No X-Box. No Zune.

  • It's easy if you try

  • Wow. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by SeaFox ( 739806 ) on Friday August 01, 2025 @06:18PM (#65561320)

    CEO of company tries to claims his company's products are essential to society, to calm investors concerned the company is not a major player in the latest trend.
    Wouldn't have seen that coming at all.

  • >" it's difficult to see a world where iPhone's not living in it," Cook said."

    Really? Because I have never had or used an 'iPhone' so I can easily see such a world...

    Unless you mean "smart phone", then that is different. Apple didn't invent it, despite the rigamarole. I have been using smart phones for many years before Apple released anything. They did contribute to the evolution, for sure. But so did many other companies.

    As for AI toppling smart phones, I seriously doubt that. Humans are very vis

  • For many of us it is very, very easy.
  • Sold to END CONSUMERS? Or, sold to warehouses, retail stores etc? How many of that three million, ended up NOT being sold, but tossed in landfills?
  • ... why would I need an iPhone for any of that? You do know about the existence of other smartphones, right?

  • A lot of smart people said they don't see a world without landlines.

Slashdot Top Deals

Slowly and surely the unix crept up on the Nintendo user ...

Close