Apple has been the target of a fair amount of criticism over the past year, from its AI missteps to a strong distaste for its new design ethos. But the numbers dont lie, and if Apple knows how to do anything its sell iPhones. Specifically, three billion of them, as CEO Tim Cook announced on the companys earnings call today.
Thats an impressive number on its own, but its even wilder when you consider that Apple is picking up the pace. The iPhone was introduced in 2007 and the company reached 1 billion iPhones sold nine years later in 2016. Getting to 2 billion took only five years; from there its been just four years to sell another billion. Considering the rate at which young people in this country, at least prefer iPhones over Android, it seems like a trend thats bound to continue.
Thats also a lot of eggs in one basket. Apples own Eddy Cue recently admitted that you may not need an iPhone 10 years from now. That should be pretty worrying if your biggest business is selling phones! Apples most notable foray into a forward-looking form factor hasnt exactly set the world on fire, either. It has somewhat famously fumbled its first attempts at adding meaningful AI features to its phones, too. At least from the outside, Apple doesnt seem terribly well prepared for that world we might be living in ten years from now.
The dilemma is clearly on Cooks mind. Later in the earnings call when asked about the fate of phones as the dominant mobile platform, he mentioned that the company is thinking about other things as well, but thinks that emerging technologies are likely to be complementary devices, not substitution. Phones certainly seem safe in the short term, but maybe whatever Sam Altman and Jony Ive are cooking up will slow Apples roll a bit on the way to its four billionth iPhone sale.
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