Ten years from now, your iPhone is likely to be a factor of the previous. That’s not a wild guess — it’s coming from Apple’s management.
Throughout latest courtroom testimony, Apple’s senior vp of providers, Eddy Cue, urged that the iPhone could not be obligatory in a decade.
“You could not want an iPhone 10 years from now, as loopy because it sounds,” he mentioned whereas testifying within the ongoing antitrust case in opposition to Google, as reported by Bloomberg.
The remark marks the primary time a senior Apple government has publicly floated the likelihood that the tech big’s most profitable product might turn out to be out of date. Cue’s remarks have been a part of broader discussions about AI, search engines like google, and the corporate’s long-standing partnership with Google.
Apple’s potential shift to AI-powered search
Cue’s remark wasn’t simply speculative — it got here amid discussions about Apple’s shifting focus towards AI-powered search. Apple appears to be more and more disinterested in persevering with its huge $20 billion per 12 months partnership with Google to maintain Google Search as Safari’s default search engine.
Apple is “actively taking a look at” overhauling its Safari internet browser to combine AI-driven search engines like google. Throughout his testimony, Cue confirmed that Apple has had discussions with AI firms, together with OpenAI, Perplexity AI, and Anthropic, as potential options to conventional search choices.
“We are going to add them to the record — they in all probability received’t be the default,” Cue mentioned, acknowledging these AI instruments nonetheless want enchancment.
This shift is already impacting person habits. Cue famous that searches on Safari declined for the primary time final month, attributing the drop to customers turning to AI as an alternative of conventional search engines like google.
The thought of Apple strolling away from its profitable cope with Google rattled buyers. Alphabet, Google’s mum or dad firm, noticed its shares fall by as a lot as 8.7%, whereas Apple shares dropped 2.7% following Cue’s remarks. The broader inventory market additionally briefly dipped.
The partnership accounts for a big chunk of Google’s search advert income; CNBC reported that round 36% comes from Safari alone.
The iPhone’s ‘golden goose’ standing and its potential finish
Regardless of this AI shift, Cue admitted the monetary stakes are excessive. “I’ve misplaced sleep” over the potential lack of Google’s revenue-sharing deal, he mentioned. At the moment, Google nonetheless affords Apple the most effective monetary phrases for normal search.
Nevertheless, Cue acknowledged that true innovation usually requires robust selections, pointing to Apple’s previous.
“We killed the iPod ourselves with the iPhone,” he mentioned. “Most firms have a really tough time killing themselves when new expertise comes alongside since you’re afraid. Why would you kill the golden goose?”
Although the iPhone made up practically half of Apple’s $95.4 billion income in Q2 2025, Cue mentioned the corporate should keep versatile as AI continues to evolve.
“The one manner you really have true competitors is when you’ve expertise shifts. Know-how shifts create these alternatives,” he mentioned.