Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas doesn’t think AI is about to make the iPhone obsolete. In comments highlighted by 9to5Mac, he argued the opposite: as AI tools get better, Apple’s phone could become even more central to people’s daily lives.
Speaking on the This Week in AI podcast, Srinivas said the iPhone may keep strengthening its role as a kind of personal digital passport. His view is that more capable AI won’t automatically push users away from their phones. Instead, it may deepen the value of a device that already holds communication tools, identity-related data, and a long list of everyday services in one place.
He also pointed to Apple’s wider strengths beyond assistant features alone. According to Srinivas, the company still benefits from a high level of user trust, tight hardware-software integration, and its long-standing chip advantage. In that context, even the delayed arrival of a more advanced Siri experience doesn’t necessarily weaken the iPhone’s position in the market.
Srinivas added that a lot of the iPhone’s staying power comes from things that aren’t purely about AI at all. Wallet support, passes, health data, FaceTime, iCloud photos, and the broader Apple ecosystem all help make the device harder to replace. From his perspective, stronger AI may end up reinforcing that ecosystem rather than disrupting it.
