Apple’s new chief executive built up to unveiling the ideal AI device, then said it was the iPhone.

John Ternus opened his first keynote as Apple chief executive by describing the ideal AI device, then said it already exists and is the iPhone. Mark Gurman reports that people inside Apple expected him to introduce the home hub instead, and that the hub, codenamed J490, is being tested in employees’ homes and could ship as early as next month. Apple also cut a handful of Fitness+ staff, mainly on the audio side, which Gurman says does not mean the service is being killed.

John Ternus opened his first keynote as chief executive by asking the audience to imagine designing an AI device from scratch. It would need an always-on connection, a decent display, good cameras and microphones, long battery life and easy interoperability.

Gurman writes in Power On that people inside Apple thought he was about to introduce the home hub. Instead Ternus said the ideal AI device already exists, and that it is the iPhone.

Gurman’s read is the blunt one

Ternus is playing his only hand, he writes. OpenAI is close to launching an AI-first computer, and Apple has no revolutionary new mobile product, so the current iPhones are the best showcase it has for Siri AI.

The framing has a second function. Everything else Apple is building tethers back to the phone, including the smart glasses expected next year and the camera-equipped AirPods reported for 2027.

That is a strategy for keeping the iPhone central rather than a description of where AI hardware is going. Apple is still deciding basic questions about the glasses, including whether they carry a camera.

The device that is actually new

The home hub, known internally as J490, is being tested widely in employees’ homes and could be released as early as next month. Gurman describes a roughly square screen, either on a stand resembling a HomePod mini cut in half or mounted on a wall.

His comparison is an Amazon Echo Show with a considerably smaller screen. The interface is a mashup of iOS, tvOS and watchOS, and it pairs with an iPhone for setup.

The notable hardware feature is facial recognition through the front camera, without the depth sensor Face ID normally requires, personalising what appears on screen for whoever is looking at it.

It has been ready and waiting

Apple planned to introduce this as far back as 2024 and could not until the assistant was good enough. TNW reported that the hardware had been finished for months and that Siri was the hold-up.

Siri AI was released this month with iOS 27, which is what unblocked it. It shipped with a waitlist, which is not the posture of a company certain of capacity.

The assistant is also not wholly Apple’s. Siri AI was rebuilt on a custom Google Gemini model, reportedly costing around $1bn a year.

The Fitness+ cuts are smaller than the headlines

Gurman reports Apple cut a handful of employees working on Fitness+, mainly on the audio side behind Time to Walk and Time to Run. New audio content will appear less often rather than stop.

He is explicit that he does not believe the service is on the chopping block. He also reports it is seen inside the Fitness+ organisation as the start of more serious cost-cutting, and expects Apple to eventually fold Fitness+ into the revamped Health app.

AppleInsider argues the cuts are being over-read. On Gurman’s own account that is closer to right than the aggregated coverage suggested.

The pattern is small and repeated

This follows cuts in August across Siri, Vision Pro immersive video and gaming teams. Gurman calls such rounds increasingly common.

Apple is not making a dramatic retreat from services. It is trimming content production in the places where an assistant might do the work instead, which is a quieter and more consequential shift.

Europe is the unanswered part

Apple said during WWDC week that Siri AI would not launch in the European Union while negotiations with the European Commission over the Digital Markets Act were unresolved. TNW has not established whether that position has changed since.

Gurman reports that iOS 27.2 adds support for more Siri AI languages, which is not the same thing as market availability. A hub whose main feature is Siri has no proposition in any market where Siri AI does not run.

The contrast with rivals is sharpening either way. Google Home has opened to Claude, OpenClaw and other third-party agents, while Apple’s hub is Siri or nothing.

What to watch

Watch whether the hub ships in Europe and with what. Selling a Siri-led device where Siri AI does not run would be a decision, not an oversight.

Watch OpenAI’s device. If a dedicated AI computer lands well, the argument that the perfect AI device is the one already in your pocket gets harder to make twice.