Apple's AI strategy takes center stage at iPhone Duo event

Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo at its headquarters on Wednesday, positioning the device as the centerpiece of its most ambitious AI strategy to date, directly countering criticism that it lagged rivals like Samsung in generative AI adoption. CEO John Ternus framed the iPhone as an intelligent hub, introducing Siri AI, a generative AI assistant launching in beta with iOS 27 on Sept. 14 that can search across apps and use the camera for real-world information. The Apple Watch gains personalized health insights via a redesigned Health app, while AirPods 5 add Live Translation and hands-free Siri AI chat. Beyond the event, Apple demonstrated its AI computing power by linking four Mac Studios to run 1-trillion-parameter models and running two billion-parameter models on a Mac mini, highlighting its hardware's appeal to AI developers for remote, display-less operation.