On March 18, Apple CEO Tim Cook briefly talked about his views on the future development of the iPhone in an interview with technology blogger Nikias Molina at Grand Central Station in New York. "There's so much more we can do with iPhone," Cook said, "and I think it's going to continue to be the center of people's digital lives."
To the outside world, this statement is somewhat typical of corporate optimism. However, in the context of Apple's heavy bets on new areas such as spatial computing, Cook still emphasizes the iPhone's core position in Apple's ecosystem, which is still quite signaling. There are currently reports that Apple is developing new forms of devices including augmented reality glasses and a screen-less, artificial intelligence-driven wearable pendant, but Cook obviously does not believe that these products will replace the role of the iPhone in the short term.
The iPhone will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year, but the device’s commercial performance is still setting records. In the past quarter, iPhone business revenue reached a record high of $85.2 billion, and Cook described iPhone demand in the quarter as "shocking." He said at the time that iPhone had its strongest quarter in history, hitting new revenue highs in all regions.
Amid the long-standing discussion about whether there will be a next-generation terminal form that will replace the iPhone, Cook doesn’t seem worried at the moment. He emphasized in the interview that "the iPhone will be around for a long, long time." Judging from Apple's current product layout, new hardware categories are more about extending around the iPhone rather than directly replacing this flagship product that is still on a growth track.