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Apple’s AI disaster has jeopardized its prospects for emerging industries
Renowned Apple insider Mark Gurman says in his newsletter Power On that the company’s AI fiasco has jeopardized its prospects for emerging industries. If Apple is unable to get its AI act together soon then it will fall behind competitors as the world moves on to newer and better things.
Apple Intelligence — the biggest selling point of the iPhone 16 last year — still remains incomplete. Its most promising feature, a revamped Siri digital assistant, keeps getting delayed over and over again with no concrete release date in sight. Any AI features that are there are barely comparable to the offerings from competitors like Samsung and Google.
The whole AI disaster happened because of Apple rushing into it without any preparation just so it wasn’t left behind. But now the company actually risks falling behind in other areas if it isn’t able to release a competent AI model soon. For now Apple is looking to collaborate with Google to bring its flagship AI model Gemini to the iPhone similar to what Samsung did for the Galaxy S25.
But it’s not just custom emojis and restaurant recommendations that Apple needs AI for: the world is changing and it requires AI.
Multiple companies — Meta, Google, Samsung and Apple — are looking into making a pair of AI-powered smart AR glasses. In fact this is Apple CEO Tim Cook’s current obsession beyond anything else that the company is working on. Cook, much like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is obsessed with releasing the first true AI-powered smart AR glasses for the consumer market.
However these glasses need AI to function: the Meta Ray-Ban glasses became a lot more popular after they received Meta AI support. AI is needed on smart glasses to translate foreign languages, provide directions, facilitate live translation and carry out actions like taking a picture and posting it to social media.
In addition to smart glasses a new industry is also emerging: home robotics. Apple is currently working on an iPad robot and has grand plans for bringing humanoid robots into our homes. But it cannot do that if it is lagging behind in AI. Competitors will bring their products to the marketplace first and snatch away market share that could have been Apple’s.
Meta is looking to release a new pair of AI-powered smart glasses this year that will also have a simple display. The company also plans to release proper AR glasses in or after 2027. Meanwhile Samsung is working on a Mixed Reality headset codenamed Project Moohan and a small home robot called Ballie. All of these devices have one thing in common: competent AI.
Apple knows this and it’s not happy
All of the promised Apple Intelligence features for the iPhone 16 series.
Apple is very aware of how it has mishandled its foray into AI. Executives at Apple are concerned and the company continues to shuffle around employees and project leads in the hopes of accelerating AI development.
Currently it seems like Apple will release the revamped Siri in 2026, well after the release of the iPhone 17. If it is able to do this then I still think that Apple has a chance to keep pace with its competitors as newer industries go mainstream. However if Siri faces further delays, and Apple Intelligence in general doesn’t improve, then I’m afraid Apple risks falling way too far behind other companies.
Already there are concerns about Apple’s value if the company decides to increase prices to combat tariffs. Apple is facing multiple threats as well and is in quite a precarious position that has CEO Tim Cook extremely anxious.
I think I’m not being too dramatic when I say that the next few years may very well decide whether Apple remains the enviable tech giant that it is today.
