Ex Apple designer Jony Ive is working on a new type of smartphone

Ive’s company has already started work on this new device from a large office space in San Francisco. Evans Hankey and Tang Tan — who worked alongside Ive at Apple — are also working on the project. Specifics are scarce but we can take a few guesses as to what kind of device Ive and Altman might be working on.

If the duo wish to completely revolutionize software, they’re most definitely going to implement AI that can understand what’s on the screen. Furthermore, this AI will likely be able to access any part of the operating system, freeing up the user from having to take manual control.

It might even utilize cameras, sensors and microphones to always be understanding context. For instances like where you’re debating calling someone and when you finally pick up the phone it immediately places a call to that person. Or perhaps monitoring you getting ready to go out and automatically ordering an Uber so it arrives just as you grab your coat. The possibilities are endless.

However, Ive and Altman aren’t the only ones interested in ushering in a new era of computing. Meta, for example, has spent years and billions of dollars working on AI-powered AR smart glasses. Zuckerberg believes that XR (Extended Reality) is going to be the future of computing, and I hope he’s right because that’d be awesome.

Are you sold on Apple Intelligence? | Video credit — Apple

What Ive and Altman are working on is far from the first time someone has tried to make a new category of AI tools. Both the Humane AI pin and the Rabbit r1 got to it first, but both failed to make much of an impact. The r1 in particular was a very dysfunctional product at launch and received overwhelmingly negative reviews.

There’s also the stigma around AI: with many people vehemently refusing to let it into their lives. A large part of consumers think that AI is a fad that will die soon and is not worth the money. Others are still waiting on actual new uses for it besides drafting an email.

AI is perhaps the only reason to buy an iPhone 16, and thus Apple has been trying hard to sell it to us. Ive and Altman will have to do the same, just like Meta will when it can finally manufacture the aforementioned smart glasses on a large scale. They’ll have to show us, not just tell us, what this device can do and why we need it.

But then again, Apple managed to make the iPad a favorite despite it being called an oversized iPhone when it was first unveiled. So maybe Ive has it in the bag and we’re really looking at something revolutionary a few years down the line.