British iPhone designer’s new gadget is make-or-break for OpenAI
Matthew Lynn
Sat, July 18, 2026 at 1:30 PM GMT+5:30
5 min read
If there is one certain rule in business from the last 30 years, it is surely this. Never bet against Sir Jony Ive.
The British-born designer created the iPod, the iPad and most importantly of all, the iPhone – three products that changed the way we all use technology and turned Apple into one of the largest companies in the world
He is about to unveil his latest gadget: a smart machine created in collaboration with OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT. Here’s the problem, however. It will be make-or-break for a business that is losing the race with Anthropic to dominate the new world of AI, because if it fails, it is hard to see how the company can possibly justify its $850bn valuation
The first product from the Ive-OpenAI team following the $6.5bn deal between the two companies is getting closer and closer to the market
According to leaks this week, it will be some form of smart speaker, a portable AI-powered device that can be carried around with you, answer questions, and act as a personal assistant. If it can take out the rubbish, tidy the house, and rustle up a toasted cheese sandwich late at night even better, but that may be a step too far, at least at this stage. But it will still be a big deal when it is finally launched
No one would want to bet against Ive. Working closely with Steve Jobs, the Apple founder, he was the design genius behind a whole series of world-changing products, including the iPhone
He is not always completely original. There were music players before the iPod and smartphones before the iPhone. But his unique talent has always been to package the latest technology in a way that makes it user-friendly, accessible, and vital to everyday life
Whether he can repeat that magic outside Apple remains to be seen. One of his first products was Ferrari’s new electric car, the Luce, which seemed to most people like a vastly over-priced Nissan Leaf (although, in fairness, Ive was only responsible for the interior and the console)
Still, if anyone can come up with an AI device that captures the imagination of the world, then surely he can
OpenAI certainly needs something to turn around its fortunes. Under its charismatic founder, Sam Altman, it pioneered the new breed of smart chatbots that have taken the world by storm. But its grip on the industry has started to weaken
Anthropic’s Claude has caught up, especially with products for digital assistants and coders. Google’s Gemini has the muscle of one of the world’s largest internet companies behind it, Elon Musk’s Grok has all the recheaper Chinese models coming on to the market all the time
