Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma doesn’t see the iPhone becoming Apple’s big marquee “AI device” in the future. Instead, he feels, the AirPods would hold that coveted designation.
To be clear, Sharma wasn’t referring to any of the current generation models. He believes Apple would release AirPods with a camera someday, and together with their built-in microphone and headphone, these wireless earbuds would be able to give any generated AI answer to things around them.
Sharma referred to them as a “real life AI device without screen.”
Interestingly, Sharma’s predictions come around the same time that rumours started to circulate about Apple prepping AirPods with IR sensors. The model mentioned in the reports however seems less to do with AI and more to do with enhancing the appeal and use case of the Vision Pro, Apple’s maiden mixed reality headset, and follow-up models it might release in the future. Maybe there would be some type of AI element to them, we can’t say for sure yet.
Sharma has shown keen interest in Apple over the last few days. He was also greatly impressed with Apple’s new calculator app, particularly its Maths Notes feature, that was announced at WWDC 2024. “When making a calculator, make it like no other. Take a bow Apple,” he had posted on X, the platform previously known as Twitter.
Apple is playing catch up with rivals like Google and Microsoft when it comes to AI. However, its fresh approach of focusing on personal context and user privacy, make it stand out from anything and everything that has launched before it. At the same time, Apple has tied up with companies like OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into the iPhone for those who might need it. Additionally, it plans to rope in Google to bring Gemini to its devices in the coming days, reports suggest.
The real star though would be Apple Intelligence, Apple’s in-house generative AI that would try and finish most tasks on-device and for tasks that might need to tap into the cloud, Apple has devised a system called Private Cloud Compute to ensure remote data processing remains secure within a Secure Enclave through servers powered by its own silicon.
