Apple says why the iPhone may not exist in just 10 years

Apple is preparing for a future where the iPhone isn't needed, which currently accounts for approximately half of the company's quarterly earnings.

Apple says why the iPhone may not exist in just 10 years
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TL;DR: Apple anticipates iPhones may become obsolete within 10 years as AI integration evolves, potentially replaced by lightweight augmented reality glasses. This shift could significantly impact Apple's revenue, currently reliant on iPhone sales, as the company focuses on developing wearable AR technology to transform everyday digital interaction.

Apple believes it's possible that we could live in a world where iPhones don't exist, and while you may think that reality is many, many years away, the company believes it could be a lot sooner than expected.

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In a Google vs Department of Justice antitrust case testimony, Apple's services chief Eddy Cue discussed the possibility of iPhones becoming obsolete in just 10 years from now. How did this come up? Cue was mentioning how artificial intelligence will continue to evolve and become ingrained in our everyday lives, eventually becoming part of the average person's daily routine. The top Apple executive continued and added that iPhones may not be the vehicle that humans use to interact with AI, and by extension, suggesting that iPhones may not even be needed in the future.

If Cue's suggestion proves to be true, Apple could be in some pretty big trouble, as currently iPhone sales account for approximately 50% of the company's quarterly revenue. So, what will replace the iPhone? Previous reports citing Apple's CEO Tim Cook state the company's CEO has been fixed on a specific vision for the past decade, and that has been "lightweight spectacles that a customer could wear all day."

"You may not need an ‌iPhone‌ 10 years from now, as crazy as it sounds," said Cue

Presumably, these augmented reality glasses - glasses that combine virtual reality technology and technology that projects digital images onto the real world (augmented reality) - would be able to perform at the very least everything that a regular smartphone can do, plus more.

However, realizing that vision is probably a bit further than 10 years away, as current virtual/augmented wearable technology from Apple is the Vision Pro, a bulky, expensive headset aimed at luxury users.

For the time being, it appears Apple is safe with its iPhone revenue, but given the rate at which technology advances, it's possible we could see the adoption of wearable computing into everyday life within the next 5 years, especially considering successful products such as the Meta Glasses already existing on the market.