Written by Anthony Cuthbertson June 16, 2025 From iPhone to eye phone? 
10 years ago this week, Tim Cook became the CEO of Apple. Following on from Steve Jobs, he had gigantic shoes to fill. “I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change,” he said when he first stepped up to the role. “Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay through to that. It’s in our DNA.”
Under Cook's stewardship, Apple has quadrupled quarterly profits, doubled its staff and sustained its position as the world's most valuable company. But one thing lacking over the last decade is the amount of industry-defining product launches that characterised the Jobs era. There’s been hardware success with the Apple Watch, and more recently the AirPods, but the majority of revenue still comes from iterative updates to its iPhone stalwart.
Earlier this year, Cook said he “probably” won’t still be running Apple in another 10 years, and the feeling is he wants to stick around for one final major product launch. And judging by numerous rumours, patents and leaks in recent years, that product could well be a pair of augmented reality glasses.
For almost as long as he’s been leading Apple, Cook has been trumpeting the potential of augmented reality to transform society in a similar way to that of the smartphone.
Shortly after unveiling the iPhone X in 2017, Cook said during an earnings call that AR would “change the way we use technology forever”. With smartphone innovation stagnating in recent years, companies like Amazon, Facebook and Google have all been looking towards the next computing platform – and an AR headset could be what this post-smartphone future looks like.
Industry experts have named this future paradigm “freedom computing”, as it allows wearers of AR glasses to make calls, browse the internet or control smart devices with just an eye movement or voice command.
Eye-watering profits and a sky-rocketing share price may be what typifies Cook's reign. But it could be the success or failure of these glasses that ultimately determine his legacy.
The Big Stories 
Elon Musk revealed SpaceX's audacious plan to catch a massive rocket booster using "robot chopsticks" attached to its 'Mechazilla' Starship launch tower. "Success is not guaranteed, but excitement is," he tweeted. 
The UK government unveiled a plan to scrap EU data protection rules as part of a post-Brexit push to commoditise customer data. Privacy advocates describe it as an "assault on our privacy, fundamental rights and liberties". 
OnlyFans reversed its much criticised "porn ban" after widespread pushback from its users. "OnlyFans stands for inclusion and we will continue to provide a home for all creators," the firm said. STAT OF THE WEEK 40,000 The number of lorry journeys the world’s first fully electric, fully autonomous cargo ship will replace when it launches in Norway this year. The Yara Birkeland aims to transform the highly-polluting shipping industry, which creates between 2 and 3 per cent of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions, according to the International Maritime Organisation. Tech Spotlight 
China's video game ban explained
Children in China will no longer be able to play video games on a weekday, and will be limited to just an hour of gaming between 8pm and 9pm on Friday, weekends and public holidays. The draconian ban, which comes into effect this week, is the latest in a crackdown by the National Press and Publication Administration aimed at preventing video game addiction and promoting the healthy development of under-18s. Chinese state-run media recently described video games as an "opium for the mind" and "electronic dugs". We have the full story of how it came to this, how it will work, and what it means for China's multi-billion dollar gaming industry. TechGraph 
Apple share price hits record high Apple's stock price closed at a new all-time high on Monday of more than $153. This represents more than a six-fold increase since Tim Cook took over as CEO a decade ago. It also puts Apple's market cap above $2.5 trillion, making it the world's most valuable company. 
Video of the week 
Harvard robot mimics Mantis shrimp ‘bullet’ punch Robotics engineers at Harvard have designed a bot capable of replicating a mantis shrimp's punch, which can be as fast as 75 feet per second. The robot weighs as much as a paperclip and is able to mimic the shrimp's stored elasticity thanks to huge advances in the field of biomimetics.
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