iPhone will still exist 50 years from now, says Apple – and no AI execs

Apple SVP Eddy Cue has previously suggested that we may not be using iPhones ten years from now, but marketing chief Greg Joswiak appears to disagree.

Joz said in a new interview that it’s hard to imagine that we won’t still be using an iPhone 50 years from now …

No iPhones in 10 years …

Apple SVP Eddy Cue said last year that we may not need an iPhone ten years from now.

“You may not need an iPhone 10 years from now as crazy as it sounds,” he said. “The only way you truly have true competition is when you have technology shifts. Technology shifts create these opportunities. AI is a new technology shift, and it’s creating new opportunities for new entrants.”

We recently noted that the exec did have an agenda behind that remark, but his view appeared to echo a reported internal company presentation from 2019 suggesting that smart glasses would eventually replace smartphones – and that the change would happen in roughly a decade.

… or iPhones still here in 50 years?

However, Joz told Wired that it was hard to imagine we wouldn’t still be using iPhones even 50 years from now. The exec acknowledged the huge changes that AI will bring over that kind of time frame, but didn’t see a need for a new type of hardware to use it.

“Let’s not lose sight of the fact that nothing you just said is incompatible with the iPhone,” Joswiak says. “The iPhone is not going to go away. iPhone is going to serve a very central role in any of those things you’re talking about.”

Asked specifically whether we would still be using iPhones 50 years from now, he said yes.

“It’s hard to imagine not,” says Joswiak […] “We’re not going to get into future road maps, but I will tell you, iPhones are not going anywhere.”

Tim Cook says Apple will not have AI execs

Apple CEO Tim Cook was also asked whether he could ever see the company being led by AI execs, and he said absolutely not, even in a 50-year time frame.

“When you look at the leadership page,” he says of future Apple, “there will not be an agentic kind of model on there.”

What’s your view on both issues? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Photo by Sajad Nori on Unsplash