The iPhone 7 is here. It’s the best iPhone ever. It’s the first iPhone without an analog headphone jack. It’s also the clearest sign for Apple’s future.
This company invents the future. At times execution is not great but the future has patience. The future can wait.
It’s late August 2016. Apple PR orchestrated a series of publications to communicate their work in A.I. Apple works on Artificial Intelligence but doesn’t brag about it. One of the pieces posted was Steven’s Levy, The iBrain is here and it’s already inside your phone.
Imagine if Apple’s A10 chip had a dedicated AI co- processor or a special low power mode for AI
The article quotes Phil Schiller saying. “Our devices are getting so much smarter at a quicker rate, especially with our Apple design A series chips”. To which i responded: “Imagine if Apple’s A10 chip had a dedicated AI co- processor or a special low power mode for AI”.
The new iPhone 7 was announced in September 7 2016 with a new Apple A series chip. The quad core A10 Fusion. That’s a first for Apple.
Two cores for high performance. Two cores for high efficiency — low power mode. Plus the M10 motion coprocessor.
Two cores for performance. Two cores for efficiency. One core for motion. Two cores for performance. Two cores for efficiency. One core for motion. Performance, efficiency, motion. Are you getting it?
A very efficient and always on A.I
The iPhone 7 is expression of three product categories in the same body. A super powerful connected computer. A very efficient and always on A.I. A capturing device (motion, images, sounds etc) of the real world.
“These are not three separate devices, this is one device, and we are calling it iPhone”. Steve Jobs unveiling the iPhone in 2007.
The iPhone 7 is Apple’s finest, humblest and most humane creation to date. Apple’s ultimate goal is to make the iPhone, as we know it, obsolete.
To make that happen Apple has to invent the future with courage. Yes courage.
Phil Schiller already knows the future. A future where everything is a computer and everything is connected. Today we call it the cloud and IoT. The ultimate goal is to make all this feel like air. Available to everyone. All the time. To get there we have to go through phases.
Phase one is happening already. Interconnected devices powered by specialized (Apple) hardware, unified by (Apple) software. Customs chips and OSes. iOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS.
Phase two is combining specialized hardware in optimized but general solutions. Meticulously built to work together with optimized software and services. Think the Apple A chips with M10, iOS, iCloud etc.
Phase three is to make hardware and OS, as we know it, obsolete. In the future every object will be a computer. Every object will be made with hardware and software. High end objects will be crafted in a natural, organic form with purpose and function. The rest will be dummy objects easy to track in time and space.
We Already Experience Snapshots Of The Future
Apple created the M motion coprocessor as a separate chip. Today the M10 motion coprocessor lives inside the Apple A10 chip. Along with the GPU. The same chip that has the dual purpose cores. Two cores for performance. Two cores for low power mode and battery efficiency.
Apple keeps pushing even further. Look at their ISP (Image Signal Processor) for the iPhone 7 camera. The new chip is 60% faster compared to iPhone 6S. It processes over 100 billion operations on a single photo in as little as 25 milliseconds.
Then you have the new W1 chip in AirPods. An Apple chip for “extremely efficient wireless communication for a better connection, improved sound”. The W1 delivers “industry-leading battery life” and powers Siri in AirPods.
The iPhone 7 is the first Apple product that pushes towards phase three.
The iPhone 7 with AirPods is the single most versatile and humane product ever created.
The iPhone 7 with AirPods and Apple Watch is the single most singular, versatile and humane product ever created. Yes. Think of them as a single product. They just happen to be sold separately. For now. The iPhone, the AirPods and the Apple Watch are built for the future as a singular product. Today.
A future with multi modal interfaces and agents enriched by immense computing power and data. Connected over the air. Always on[1]. Always available. Always accurate and specific in a very general way. A blend of voice, hearing, vision, images, touch, tactile feedback through the iPhone, the AirPods, Siri, iCloud, Apple Watch and more.
Look around you. Look in the mirror. Do you notice any right angles in nature? Do natural physical objects have buttons, cables or plugs? Nature has beautiful curves. We touch and pressure objects. We hear sounds. We see images. We nod. We smile. We frown. We sigh.
Does a new display screen with wide color gamut makes more sense now? Maybe 3D Touch and AirPods? Waterproofing? A better camera each year? New Macs with a low power chip for an always on Siri? Wireless charging? It’s coming.
Right now Apple is busy creating and perfecting new materials. New machines to built new products. New technology to make everything feel like air. More human friendly devices. More natural and organic products.
Jony Ive said it loud and clear when announcing the AirPods. “We’re just at the beginning of a truly wireless future we’ve been working toward for many years. Where technology enables a seamless and automatic connection between you and your devices.”
In this journey to the future Apple has to generate profits. The company has to stay close to its core beliefs. Its DNA. Not wondering what he would do. Just create the best products.
[1] Already happing with iCloud and AirPods switching automatically to the sound source based on the device you use.
