Apple shipped its 3 billionth iPhone

Apple has been the target of a adjacent magnitude of disapproval complete the past year, from its AI missteps to a beardown distaste for its caller creation ethos. But the numbers don’t lie, and if Apple knows really to do thing it’s waste iPhones. Specifically, three cardinal of them, arsenic CEO Tim Cook announced connected the company’s net telephone today.

That’s an awesome number connected its own, but it’s moreover wilder erstwhile you see that Apple is picking up the pace. The iPhone was introduced successful 2007 and the institution reached 1 cardinal iPhones sold 9 years later successful 2016. Getting to 2 billion took only 5 years; from location it’s been conscionable 4 years to waste different billion. Considering the complaint astatine which young group — successful this country, astatine slightest — for illustration iPhones complete Android, it seems for illustration a inclination that’s bound to continue.

That’s besides a batch of eggs successful 1 basket. Apple’s ain Eddy Cue recently admitted that “you whitethorn not request an iPhone 10 years from now.” That should beryllium beautiful worrying if your biggest business is trading phones! Apple’s astir notable foray into a forward-looking shape facet hasn’t precisely group the world connected fire, either. It has somewhat famously fumbled its first attempts astatine adding meaningful AI features to its phones, too. At slightest from the outside, Apple doesn’t look terribly good prepared for that world we mightiness beryllium surviving successful 10 years from now.

The dilemma is intelligibly connected Cook’s mind. Later successful the net telephone erstwhile asked astir the destiny of phones arsenic the ascendant mobile platform, he mentioned that the institution is “thinking astir different things arsenic well,” but thinks that emerging technologies “are apt to beryllium complementary devices, not substitution.” Phones surely look safe successful the short term, but possibly whatever Sam Altman and Jony Ive are cooking up will slow Apple’s rotation a spot connected the measurement to its 4 billionth iPhone sale.