Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg Declare the iPhone Obsolete as They Build Revolutionary Products to Dethrone Apple

For nearly two decades, the iPhone has stood as a cultural icon and technological benchmark. Since Steve Jobs unveiled the first model in 2007, Apple’s flagship product has defined the modern smartphone era, dominating markets and reshaping human behavior across the globe.

But in a seismic shift that may mark the beginning of the end for the touchscreen-dominated smartphone world, two of the most influential tech leaders on the planet—Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg—have now openly declared that the iPhone is outdated. More than just words, both billionaires are backing their declarations with bold innovations that could signal the dawn of a post-smartphone future.

Their ambitions are not just to compete with Apple CEO Tim Cook—they aim to leave Apple in the dust entirely.

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, is doubling down on a future where physical screens give way to augmented reality. At Meta’s 2024 Connect event, he presented Orion, an ambitious AR glasses prototype designed to completely replace smartphones.

Orion isn’t some clunky headset—it’s a sleek, wearable device intended to project 3D holograms, respond to voice commands, track eye movements, and interpret hand gestures. Unlike the transitional Ray-Ban Meta glasses that are already on the market—with a 12MP camera, built-in speakers, and Meta’s AI assistant for hands-free functionality—Orion is being groomed to become a fully immersive AR interface by 2027.

Meta has invested more than $80 billion in AR and VR technologies since 2014, a massive bet that Zuckerberg believes will pay off in the next five years. He predicts that by 2030, AR glasses will not just supplement smartphones—they will replace them entirely.

Zuckerberg’s vision is rooted in the belief that the screen is a limitation. Phones, in his view, trap human interaction into rectangles of glass, limiting spatial computing and immersion. Orion aims to untether people from this constraint by overlaying digital information directly onto the real world.

If successful, people will no longer have to look down at a phone—they’ll interact with apps, messages, maps, and even video calls right in their field of vision, naturally and intuitively. Meta’s roadmap makes it clear: this isn’t just about convenience; it’s about redefining how humans connect with information and each other.

But while Zuckerberg dreams in augmented reality, Elon Musk is pursuing something far more audacious. To him, even the sleekest AR glasses are too primitive. Instead, he wants to eliminate the need for external devices entirely. Musk’s approach centers around Neuralink, the brain-computer interface company he founded in 2016. Musk has long expressed frustration with the limitations of traditional input methods.

In his words, thumbs are slow and obsolete tools for communicating with machines. The future, he believes, lies in direct neural communication—a way for the human brain to interface seamlessly with computers, AI systems, and the digital world.

By early 2025, Neuralink had already implanted its device into two human patients, both of whom reportedly demonstrated the ability to control a cursor on a screen using only their thoughts. These early successes, while focused on medical applications such as restoring mobility to people with paralysis, serve as proof-of-concept for Musk’s grander ambitions.

In the long run, Musk envisions a world where thoughts can be transmitted directly into devices, where communication becomes telepathic, where humans can store and replay memories, and even merge with artificial intelligence to avoid being outpaced by it.

The implications of Musk’s vision are staggering. If Neuralink achieves what Musk proposes, the concept of carrying a phone, using a keyboard, or even speaking to an assistant would become laughably outdated. Instead of swiping on a screen or typing a message, users would merely think what they want, and it would be done.

This concept, once confined to science fiction, is now being trialed in laboratories and, increasingly, in humans. Musk isn’t just trying to compete with Apple—he’s aiming to rewrite the rulebook for human-computer interaction entirely.

Yet, such ambition doesn’t come without controversy. Experts have raised serious questions about the feasibility, ethics, and long-term risks of Neuralink’s technology. The implants require invasive brain surgery, and while early trials are promising, the pathway to mass adoption remains unclear.

Moreover, the potential for misuse or hacking of brain-connected data has triggered a host of privacy concerns. Who owns the data from your brain? Can it be protected from surveillance, manipulation, or corporate misuse? And perhaps most importantly—can humanity handle the consequences of such intimate integration with machines?

As Musk and Zuckerberg push forward with their radical alternatives to the iPhone, Apple’s Tim Cook remains firm in his belief that smartphones will endure. With the release of the iPhone 16 in September 2024, Apple introduced enhanced AI features, integrating smarter suggestions, real-time translation, personalized workflows, and greater synergy with other Apple products.

Cook’s stance is pragmatic: he doesn’t believe people are ready to give up their phones. Instead, he sees devices like the Apple Watch, Vision Pro headset, and future AR products as accessories that enrich, rather than replace, the smartphone experience.

Apple has always taken a more incremental approach to innovation, favoring sleek refinement over radical disruption. While Meta and Neuralink gamble billions on long-term paradigm shifts, Apple focuses on perfecting the present.

That strategy has served it well in the past, but in this new arms race of technology, it may no longer be enough. The idea that iPhones are “obsolete,” as proclaimed by Musk and Zuckerberg, is more than a marketing jab—it’s a declaration of war on Apple’s dominance.

What’s at stake is more than market share. Musk and Zuckerberg are competing to shape the next interface for human interaction. The smartphone turned every person into a node on the digital network. What comes next will determine how we live, work, and think in a hyper-connected world. Whether that’s through Meta’s holographic AR glasses or Musk’s neural implants, one thing is clear: the tech titans aren’t waiting for the future—they’re building it.

Zuckerberg’s push for spatial computing and Musk’s dream of a mind-machine merger offer two competing futures, both of which sideline Apple’s central product. Ironically, the very company that revolutionized personal technology with the iPhone now finds itself in danger of being left behind by newer, more disruptive visions.

Tim Cook’s reluctance to abandon the phone may prove wise in the short term—but it also risks tethering Apple to a paradigm its rivals are racing to leave behind.

In a time when innovation is accelerating at breakneck speed, standing still is the same as falling behind. And with billions of dollars at play and the world’s most powerful minds engaged in a high-stakes race, the fate of the smartphone—and perhaps even Apple itself—now hangs in the balance.

Will we soon live in a world where we wear our apps on our faces or think them into existence? According to Musk and Zuckerberg, that future is not just possible—it’s already on its way.