Apple: AI is the new UI
MARKETING & EXPÉRIENCE CLIENT
Two strategic questions regularly come up regarding Apple's future: when is the company going to catch up on AI? and when will Apple radically innovate once again to reduce its dependence on the iPhone? My perspective in French Daily Les Echos on the launch of the iPhone Duo and the new version of Siri AI.
John Ternus, Apple’s new CEO, passed his baptism of fire with his first keynote, as he needed to reassure people about Apple's ability to create a breakthrough experience in both AI and the iPhone.
Apple has thus finally launched its very first foldable iPhone (the iPhone Duo), which will be offered for the tidy sum of €2,300 for the base model, and upwards of €3,000 for versions with more storage... I believe Apple's approach is to migrate some of its regular customers from the Pro ranges to this technological gem to create a status and identity-driven effect, and to introduce a new category sitting on the border between the iPad mini and the smartphone.
As I explained in this French daily Les Echos article: 'Arriving seven years after the competition in foldables, Apple must redefine the high-end smartphone market. The exploding cost of memory components and smartphone market dynamics have pushed it to orchestrate a carefully calculated ultra-premium positioning to protect its margins.'
Ultimately, Apple rarely arrives first in a market, but that didn't stop it from redefining the MP3 market with the iPod, the smartphone with the iPhone, or the smartwatch with the Apple Watch. Even though Apple is still far too dependent on the iPhone for its revenue (more than 50%), it is false to say that Apple no longer innovates and is incapable of pulling off a major launch. As a reminder, Apple launched a recurring subscription business in Services generating over 100 billion dollars in revenue... in just a few years.
From a business standpoint, we tend to forget Apple's scale. As I reminded Florian Dèbes in another Les Echos article, even if there are initial supply issues and we go with a low-end assumption of a few million units sold, we are still talking about a 10 billion dollar product launch in its very first year...
From an image perspective, Apple is coming out of it well because the marketing gamble was risky. It required surgical precision in targeting between the foldable iPhone and the iPhone 18 Pro, alongside a flawlessly executed launch.
The experience breakthrough certainly seems to be there.
Yes, Apple can get back into the AI race: its challenge? Reinventing the human-machine interface. AI is the new UI.
Naturally, Siri has not measured up in recent years, and the fact that Apple has relied on OpenAI and now Google for its AI can be concerning. But after all, Apple used Google Search by default without anyone batting an eye.
The challenge of AI for Apple is not investing in infrastructure, the cloud, data centers, or LLMs to offer computing capacity or enterprise monetization. The issue is not about productivity gains, but rather the ability to rethink the interface: this will happen through a relationship of trust and a fine-tuned understanding of intention and context, and I maintain that Apple remains very well positioned to 'crack' AI.
Apple has therefore finally launched a revamped version of Siri AI, intended to be an intelligent conductor and assistant that manages your conversation history, draws on your personal context (photos, messages, etc.), and orchestrates actions across your various apps—with AI that extends directly to the wrist (Apple Watch) and the ear (instant translation on AirPods 5). All transparently and securely, powered by local infrastructure coupled with the famous Private Cloud Compute.
European consumers will not have access to Siri AI. At least not for the moment. DMA obligations. From a geopolitical standpoint, AI is fragmenting, much like our world.
I have been analyzing Apple's approach for over 20 years, and I still remember the study I published for Jupiter Research back in 2007 for the release of the iPhone.
It is fascinating to see how Apple—an iconic brand par excellence—still masters the art and science of marketing.
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I have been analyzing Consumer Technology since 2005 and I am passionate about the intersection of marketing/customer experience, tech & AI, environmental and societal trends.
I am not just an independent analyst but have also advised firms to implement stuff in the real world and founded my own company. I believe in quality over quantity so don’t expect daily or even weekly updates, but rather bi-monthly or monthly news – assuming I’ll only write when I have something meaningful to share :-)
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