iPhone
productApple's smartphone line. In ToTheMoon: 55 episodes from 2024 to 2026, central in 2 of them; most often alongside AI models and assistants and Work, careers, and productivity.
55
episodes
with mentions
2
central
episodes
196
transcript
mentions
Apr 2024
first
mention
Oct 2026
latest
mention
* Counted from the transcripts: a role and a mention count are recorded for every episode.
iPhone in ToTheMoon episodes
On ToTheMoon the iPhone is the device the hosts use to check whether AI has actually reached ordinary people. Talk about Apple's phone nearly always comes down to a single test: does the latest announcement change a real everyday scenario, or is it a new form factor and a purchase ritual while the intelligence stays a promise.
In 2024 the hosts saw, for the first time in years, a wide gap between generations: Apple Intelligence features were promised only for the iPhone 15 Pro and newer, and dependence on OpenAI and Google was named the main risk (episode 011). A new iPhone is rarely bought for one feature; people stay with Apple because leaving is too inconvenient, so the AI only needs to become a natural layer over what they already do (episode 023). That autumn Apple Intelligence looked raw, which stood out against the ritual of the purchase itself, a trip to the flagship Apple store on launch day (episode 025).
By 2025 the tone had cooled. People buy a new iPhone every year out of habit, one host admitted, adding that he owns one but does not love it (episode 074). At the iPhone 17 presentation Apple barely mentioned AI after its unprepared bet on Apple Intelligence the year before, and the main puzzle was the iPhone Air (episode 075). In 2026 the hosts noted that iPhone 17 sales had outpaced the market while Siri remained a primitive interface (episode 093), and in episode 105 they discussed local models already producing tens of tokens per second on an iPhone and potentially handling tasks in the background.
Featured analysis · iPhone
Robotaxis Are Already in Silicon Valley: Tesla’s Trillion-Dollar Valuation Depends on the Network, Not the CarRobotics and autonomous transportOpenAI Wants a Device of Its Own While Google Turns the Entire Internet Into One AI InterfaceConsumer devices and everyday lifeOpenAI Showed Astra and a Scandal Began. A Breakthrough or Other People's Ideas?AI models and assistantsApple Does Not Have to Show AI First—It Only Has to Put It Where People Will Not LeaveSearch, knowledge, and the internetApple Controls the Device; OpenAI Controls the Expectation of Magic. Now They Are Moving Toward the Same ProductAI models and assistantsApple Has Put AI Into the iPhone, but the Biggest Risk Is Not SiriConsumer devices and everyday lifeOpenAI, Google, and Apple Build AI in the Image of Their Own Organizations—and That Is Why Their Products Are So DifferentAI models and assistantsFlying Cars and 6G Are Impressive, but Search, Parental Controls, and Chips Will Shape the Near FutureAI models and assistantsThe Entire Tech Industry Talks About ChatGPT, Yet Outside the Bubble Surprisingly Few People Know What to Do With ItAI models and assistants
Coverage timeline
role → prominence → date ▾
075 · 2025-09-14Robotaxis Are Already in Silicon Valley: Tesla’s Trillion-Dollar Valuation Depends on the Network, Not the Carcentral059 · 2025-05-25OpenAI Wants a Device of Its Own While Google Turns the Entire Internet Into One AI Interfacecentral164 · 2026-09-13OpenAI Showed Astra and a Scandal Began. A Breakthrough or Other People's Ideas?analysis023 · 2024-09-15Apple Does Not Have to Show AI First—It Only Has to Put It Where People Will Not Leaveanalysis025 · 2024-09-29Apple Controls the Device; OpenAI Controls the Expectation of Magic. Now They Are Moving Toward the Same Productanalysis011 · 2024-06-23Apple Has Put AI Into the iPhone, but the Biggest Risk Is Not Sirianalysisextra14 · 2026-01-14OpenAI, Google, and Apple Build AI in the Image of Their Own Organizations—and That Is Why Their Products Are So Differentanalysis074 · 2025-09-07Flying Cars and 6G Are Impressive, but Search, Parental Controls, and Chips Will Shape the Near Futureanalysis012 · 2024-06-30The Entire Tech Industry Talks About ChatGPT, Yet Outside the Bubble Surprisingly Few People Know What to Do With Itanalysis174 · 2026-10-0210 Key AI Trends You Can't Afford to Miss: What to Learn and What Not to Waste Time on in the Age of AIcontext170 · 2026-09-25Claude Opus 5.5 Is Out. Is It Even Worth Switching to New Models?context168 · 2026-09-20OpenAI Closed Access to the $200 Pro Plan. Is Strong AI Becoming Scarce?context105 · 2026-04-12AI Is Getting More Expensive, Access Is Narrowing, and Investment Is Rising: The Free Magic Is Endingcontext094 · 2026-01-251.9 GW for OpenAI: AI Companies Are Beginning to Resemble States in Energy Use and Influencecontext093 · 2026-01-18Personal AI Promises to Know You Better—and Quietly Turns Data Into the Main Productcontext083 · 2025-11-09AI Agents Are Not Ready to Replace Work Yet—but They Are Already Changing Prices, GDP, and the Rules of Online Storescontext022 · 2024-09-08Telegram, OpenAI, and the Market for Trust: Why Polished Numbers Can No Longer Be Taken at Face Valuecontext147 · 2026-08-09Apple Sues OpenAI, Meta Challenges Codex: What Is Happening in the AI Race Right Nowcontext072 · 2025-08-24Meta’s Moderation Failure Shows That Friendly AI Can Be Dangerous Precisely Because People Trust Itcontext048 · 2025-03-09Meta and Microsoft Are Dividing User Habits, Not Modelscontext133 · 2026-07-12The Problem With New AI Models Is No Longer Power, but the Person Who Has to Make Sense of Them Allcontext054 · 2025-04-20Half a Trillion Dollars for AI Does Not Eliminate the Main Shortage—People Who Can Build a Productcontext031 · 2024-11-10Musk Gained Access to Politics, While Apple and OpenAI Gained Access to Our Datacontext024 · 2024-09-22OpenAI Taught a Model to Think Longer—but Made Choosing an AI Even Hardercontext140 · 2026-07-26AI Is Changing the Internet: What Happens to Browsers, Google, and Apps?context130 · 2026-07-05Fable 5 Returned, GPT-5.6 Was Hidden Behind a New Lineup, and Gemini 3.5 Is Delayed: The Race Has Become Almost Incomprehensible to Userscontext092 · 2026-01-11AI Is Entering Health and the Home, but Everyday Reliability Lags Behind Medical Promisescontext089 · 2025-12-21GPT-5.2 Became One More Version in an Endless Stream: Users Need a Stable Product More Than a New Numbercontext070 · 2025-08-10GPT-5 Became Easier to Use, but the Main Progress Is Not One Benchmark—It Is How the Model Handles a Taskcontext062 · 2025-06-15ChatGPT at $20 and $200: An Expensive Subscription Does Not Solve the Model-Choice Problemcontext061 · 2025-06-08There Is No Single Strongest Model: ChatGPT Has to Be Chosen Again for Every Taskcontext041 · 2025-01-19The Data Is Running Out, and AI Has to Learn From Itselfcontext014 · 2024-07-14OpenAI Is Not Finished, but One Strong ChatGPT Is No Longer Enoughcontext007 · 2024-05-26Why ChatGPT Is ‘Getting Dumber,’ Apple Is Moving Slowly on AI, and Our Data Is the Most Fragile Part of the Systemcontext161 · 2026-09-06Fable 5.1 Is Out. Claude Opened Its Memory. OpenAI Is Preparing Astra — What Is Changing in the New AI Race?brief136 · 2026-07-19ChatGPT or Claude: Which System Will Become the Main Interface for Work and Life?brief109 · 2026-05-10Codex Replaced $700 Software, but AI Design Still Does Not Know the Size of the Wallbrief103 · 2026-03-29While OpenAI Scales Back Sora, Google and Anthropic Are Turning Legacy Software Into an Unnecessary Layerbrief102 · 2026-03-21Google Is Pulling Ahead Because Personal AI Sees an Entire Digital Life, Not One Chatbrief097 · 2026-02-15AI Agents Are Becoming a Systemic Force: One Error Now Travels Through Code, Money, and the Physical Worldbrief088 · 2025-12-14China Is Disrupting the AI Market Not With One Model, but With Patents, Data, Energy, and Deployment Speedbrief087 · 2025-12-07“Code Red” at OpenAI: Google Applies Product Pressure While Social Programs Buy Time and Influencebrief077 · 2025-09-28OpenAI Is Building a Labor Market, DeepSeek Is Preparing a New Model, and Compute Scarcity Is Becoming the Main Employerbrief076 · 2025-09-21ChatGPT Memory Makes the Assistant More Useful—and Turns Every Error Into a Long Storybrief064 · 2025-06-29The New York Times Lawsuit Shows How Much Data AI Retains—and How Little Control the User Hasbrief063 · 2025-06-22AI Promises a Therapist and an Honest Startup—and Receives Trust That Should Never Be Given Automaticallybrief050 · 2025-03-23Chinese Models Are Advancing Through Freedom of Choice, Not the Quality of a Single Answerbrief046 · 2025-02-23Grok 3 Did Not End the ChatGPT Era—It Showed That the Race Now Runs Every Daybrief037 · 2024-12-22Sora, Video Chat, and a $56 Billion Court Case: Technology Accelerates, but People Still Make the Rulesbrief030 · 2024-11-03Claude Can Already Control a Computer, While Apple Intelligence Still Gets in the User's Waybrief021 · 2024-08-27Pavel Durov's Arrest Turned Telegram From an App Into a Political Questionbrief010 · 2024-06-16ChatGPT Is Already Useful in Everyday Life, but the Industry Still Cannot Turn AI Into a Proper Productbrief009 · 2024-06-09AI Has Not Hit a Ceiling—Products and Corporations Havebrief005 · 2024-05-10Autopilot, Remote Work, and Regulation: Technology Is Limited Not by What It Can Do, but by Responsibilitybrief002 · 2024-04-19Hundreds of Billions Are Going Into AI While People Rethink the Meaning of Education and Workbrief