Apple’s new CEO John Ternus has made the iPhone central to his AI strategy, arguing that artificial intelligence should expand the handset’s role rather than usher in a replacement for it. In his first keynote as CEO, Ternus described the iPhone as an intelligent personal hub, built around on-device processing, cameras, microphones, persistent connectivity and personal context.
The framing recalls Steve Jobs’ 2001 “digital hub” pitch for the Mac. At a time when analysts were questioning the PC’s future, Jobs positioned the Mac as the device around which digital cameras, music players and other gadgets would connect. Apple introduced the iPod months later.
Ternus is applying a similar idea to a market now crowded with AI-first hardware experiments, including smart glasses, pins and pendants designed to move AI assistants beyond the phone. Apple, for now, is presenting the smartphone as the device that already brings together the hardware and data needed for a more capable assistant.
Apple Intelligence is intended to connect those pieces. Apple has presented its upgraded Siri as an assistant able to draw on information in messages, email, photos and what is displayed on screen. The company also emphasizes local processing, turning to cloud computing when needed, with privacy remaining a core part of its AI argument.
The same positioning extends to the iPhone Duo, Apple’s first foldable iPhone. Apple has described it as an intelligent personal hub with a larger display and hardware designed for on-device AI, rather than as a departure from the iPhone’s established role.
The message arrives early in Ternus’ tenure, which began on September 1, 2026: Apple sees AI as a reason to keep the iPhone at the center of its product ecosystem. The unanswered question is whether the company will eventually introduce a new companion device with the impact the iPod had on the original digital-hub strategy.
That vision also depends on feature rollout. Some Apple Intelligence and Siri AI capabilities have been unavailable, delayed or subject to restrictions in parts of Europe, leaving the practical reach of Apple’s AI-led iPhone strategy uneven across markets.
