Abandoning cars for Apple means what? The urgency to bet on AI and next-generation wearable devices has become more pressing.

Apple's 10-year dream of making cars has come to an end. What should be the next step to turn the tables with AI?

Today, the news of "Apple giving up on making cars" has shocked the global electric vehicle industry. According to media reports, Apple has abandoned its electric car project that lasted for a decade and cost billions of dollars, and is now fully embracing the AI feast.

Media reports suggest that Apple's "bold move" has been appreciated by many investors and analysts. Bloomberg analysts Anurag Rana and Andrew Girard stated that shifting resources to generative artificial intelligence is the right choice:

Whether it's making cars or AI, it tests Apple's financial strength. Undoubtedly, the return cycle of AI is shorter than that of cars. AI can be more easily integrated with phones, enabling Apple's AI technology to be implemented.

Considering the long-term profitability of AI compared to cars, it is the right decision for Apple to steer clear of the electric car market.

Analysts point out that although Apple has halted its car-making efforts, its accumulation in Carplay can still be combined with existing car brands and products, ensuring that the investment in cars will not be wasted.

Now, Apple needs to figure out how to quickly integrate its past AI research achievements in the field of autonomous driving in cars and find a better direction for AI implementation - whether it will be on their highly anticipated Vision Pro spatial computing device, on phones, or on the recently "leaked" AI headphones and other next-generation wearable devices.

AI Enters the iPhone

From the current market landscape, Apple's foray into AI has become very urgent. Samsung released the first AI phone earlier this year, while Apple has yet to make a move.

In July last year, the news of Apple creating the large model framework Ajax and the chatbot service "AppleGPT" became a market focus. At the same time, Apple provided dozens of large model positions and the recruitment of generative AI talent also attracted attention.

In October of the same year, analysts at Haitong International Securities pointed out that Apple plans to launch generative AI technology on the iPhone and iPad by the end of 2024 at the earliest. If the plan proceeds as scheduled, Apple may introduce generative AI features starting from iOS 18 and iPadOS 18.

In January of this year, reports indicated that Apple plans to unveil a series of generative AI-based tools at the global developer conference in June. These new tools will be part of iOS 18, including an improved version of Siri, but Apple may have to wait until mid-year to implement AI on iOS 18. In February this year, there was news that Apple is developing new AI programming tools as part of the new version of Xcode, planned to be released to third-party developers earlier this year. The new product is expected to compete with Microsoft's GitHub Copilot.

Doubling Down on AI Wearable Devices

Following the surge of generative AI, lightweight wearable devices integrated with AI have become one of the most intriguing product directions for many tech companies.

On February 26th, it was reported that Apple is exploring "various possibilities" for future wearable devices, such as adding a camera function to its popular product, AirPods. Analysts point out that this move by Apple will further enhance the functionality and user experience of AirPods, ushering in a new round of upgrades in the wireless earphone market.

Reports indicate that Apple has been researching AirPods with cameras since last year, under the codename "B798". These earphones are similar in size to the current AirPods but come with a built-in camera. They can not only be used to take photos but will also provide users with real-time information assistance through multimodal voice and image AI systems, making them an ideal tool for remote work.

Beyond earphones, Apple has been considering developing several new wearable devices over the years, including a fitness ring for health monitoring that can synchronize health and fitness data, potentially serving as a budget alternative to the Apple Watch. There are also smart glasses with built-in speakers, cameras, health sensors, and AI capabilities, set to compete with products like Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses.