Apple CEO John Ternus says the best AI device is still the iPhone

Apple’s new CEO John Ternus used the opening of the company’s Surprise and Shine event Wednesday to make its AI strategy clear: the iPhone is already the best AI device out there, and Apple cares more about data privacy than its rivals.

The comments come as Ternus takes the reins at Apple from Tim Cook, who is now executive chairman, and offer a clear picture of how the company plans to compete in the AI era. Instead of building new hardware for AI, Apple wants to make the iPhone the central way consumers interact with the new technology.

During his introduction at the Cupertino event, Ternus described the ideal AI device, or “intelligent personal hub,” as he called it. He said such a hub would have a broad understanding of a user’s personal context, always be with them, and have both a powerful processor capable of running AI models on-device and an internet connection to access models in the cloud.

The device would also have a large display, high-quality cameras and microphones so it could see and hear the world around it, along with long battery life, Ternus continued.

Plus, “you’d want it to be super easy to use without a big learning curve. And finally, you’d want it to work seamlessly with your other devices, apps, and services, so it feels like one integrated experience,” he said.

“In other words, you would arrive at something remarkably familiar, because there’s no product in the world better designed to be your intelligent personal hub than iPhone,” Ternus said.

Ternus also emphasized how Apple cares more about data privacy, adding that “others see [users’ personal] data as something to collect and store.” It was one of the sharper statements Apple has made about how it intends to differentiate its AI platform from the competition.

“…Honestly, trust only goes so far when your data is no longer yours to control; that’s why Apple Intelligence runs on device whenever it can,” Ternus concluded.

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