Apple's new CEO says the best AI device is still the iPhone

Apple's new CEO, John Ternus, used the opening of the company's "Surprise and Shine" event in Cupertino to lay out its AI strategy in plain terms: the iPhone is already the best AI device out there, and Apple cares more about data privacy than its rivals. Ternus has taken the reins from Tim Cook, who is now executive chairman.

Rather than unveiling a new AI gadget, Ternus described the ideal AI device as an "intelligent personal hub." He said such a hub would have a broad understanding of a user's personal context and always be with them, with both a powerful processor capable of running AI models on-device and an internet connection to reach models in the cloud.

His checklist also included a large display, high-quality cameras and microphones so the device could see and hear the world around it, plus long battery life.

On usability, he said you would want the device to be "super easy to use without a big learning curve" and to work seamlessly with your other devices, apps and services so it feels like one integrated experience. That led to his conclusion: you would arrive at something remarkably familiar, because there is no product in the world better designed to be your intelligent personal hub than iPhone.

Privacy drew the sharpest line. Ternus said others see users' personal data as something to collect and store, adding that "trust only goes so far when your data is no longer yours to control; that's why Apple Intelligence runs on device whenever it can."

His framing lands as the industry debates what the next AI-native hardware should look like. Apple's answer is to compete where it is strongest, turning AI into a capability of hardware it already ships at scale — its own silicon, on-device models and a tightly integrated ecosystem — instead of a new device category.

For developers and users, the signal is that the iPhone is being positioned as the AI entry point, which makes Apple's on-device compute, privacy narrative and ecosystem integration the boundaries of its AI experience. How far an on-device-first strategy can go as cloud models keep improving remains an open question.

What to watch next is how this on-device-first, privacy-first story translates into upcoming system updates and Apple Intelligence features, and how Apple balances its privacy promises against the need to stay competitive while working with cloud model providers.