Apple, Design, and the Future of the Device
In a world where screens fade away and AI steps forward, where is Apple's place?
Tomorrow, Apple will unveil a beautiful new operating system at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. The OS design style, called Liquid Glass, will go heavy on transparency and shine, and make the screen feel like a shimmering glass surface. All this sets up “Glasswing,” a major iPhone update anticipated in 2027 that, according to Bloomberg, could feature curved glass on all sides.
Apple’s forthcoming upgrades will solidify the company’s device leadership, but they arrive just as the tech industry questions whether devices will matter at all. The rise of generative AI has given us a new mode of interacting with technology. Along with typing and tapping, we can now chat, talk, and show things to computers and phones, and they’ll respond in natural language. If AI progress continues apace, the device itself could fade away, leaving us with an ambient companion and teacher that inhabits the world alongside us.
In this AI future, the most beautiful device will not win, the most intelligent AI will. Any device will only be as good as the assistant inside. That’s why legendary ex-Apple designer Jony Ive called smartphones and laptops “legacy” devices as he announced a multibillion-dollar deal with OpenAI. And why Apple SVP Eddy Cue recently said “you may not need an iPhone 10 years from now.”
There have already been some early attempts to invent AI-first devices. Most notably, the Humane Pin, created by ex-Apple designers, shut down less than two years after its debut. The product seemed doomed from the start. In an awkward, highly-produced launch video, the designers struggled to convey the value of a product whose look and feel — what they knew best — mattered less than the software inside. Without killer AI, Humane’s effort never got close. Same with the Rabbit R1, another AI-first device that fizzled after a hot launch.
Ive, via his partnership with OpenAI, is betting he’ll have access to that killer AI, but ironically, if he does, his skills will matter less. That’s why tech insiders were mostly puzzled when OpenAI paid $6.5 billion for Ive’s IO device company. And why Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s announcement video felt similarly ungraspable as Humane’s.
Ive’s AI device might look a bit different than Humane’s Pin. No screen is anticipated, and it’s not planned as a wearable. But its outward design will be mostly inconsequential. Perhaps Ive will invent some new interactions, like special button pushes for specific AI actions. But ultimately, the model inside will be most determinative of its success.
In this context, it’s somewhat odd that Apple is leading with design at this year’s WWDC. But it’s not exactly a strategic choice. The company’s AI effort is flagging, and it’s had little to show in the year since it announced Apple Intelligence. In recent months, it’s reorganized and retrenched its AI team. So for now, the company is leading with what it’s done consistently well for decades.
But it’s also worth having some perspective about the prophecies of where this technology goes next, and what it means for Apple. AI devices might one day threaten the primacy of screens, but that’s unlikely to happen anytime soon. We’ll always need someplace to look at photos, watch videos, and take FaceTime calls. And even as AI improves rapidly, it’s bound to hit bottlenecks on its way to an all-knowing ambient assistant.
More than anything, these visions of future AI devices and the deeming of Apple’s current set of devices as “legacy” evidences a solidifying consensus in Silicon Valley that generative AI is the real deal. We’ll certainly feel the technology’s impact on screens before we feel it off them. And so there’s urgency for Apple to get its act together and, with little more wasted time, seamlessly integrate AI into its ever-improving operating systems.
Special Big Technology Coverage from WWDC
I’ll be on the ground from Apple HQ in Cupertino on Monday, appearing on CNBC’s event coverage and recording a Big Technology Podcast reaction episode. Tune into CNBC before and after the event, and check out Big Technology Podcast on your app of choice:
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/32aZGZx
Apple: https://apple.co/3AebxCK
Etc. https://pod.link/1522960417/
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