Apple bets on App Store-style AI platform model as it kills Mac Pro and defends hardware talent

Apple is executing a sweeping AI pivot that leans into its proven strengths in hardware and services rather than competing directly with frontier model labs, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported in his Power On newsletter on March 29. The company's revamped strategy treats Siri as a platform layer — akin to the App Store — through which third-party AI assistants can reach users, rather than attempting to build a proprietary large language model that rivals ChatGPT or Gemini.

The shift was accompanied by an unusual compensation move: Apple has issued rare bonuses to senior iPhone hardware designers to counter recruitment advances from OpenAI, which has been aggressively hiring engineering talent from Silicon Valley incumbents. The bonuses signal that Apple views its industrial design and hardware integration teams as central to its AI future, even as the software and model layers are increasingly sourced from outside partners.

Gurman also reported that Apple is discontinuing the Mac Pro, the modular desktop computer long favored by professional video and audio editors, and concentrating its high-end desktop lineup around the Mac Studio. The Mac Pro's elimination is partly a product simplification move and partly a signal of where Apple expects high-performance computing to migrate, toward neural engine acceleration in Apple Silicon rather than the expandable PCIe slot configurations the Mac Pro was built around.

Taken together, the announcements sketch an Apple that has accepted it cannot win the frontier model race and is instead positioning the iPhone as the most trusted and deeply integrated surface for consuming AI from any source. If that bet pays off, Apple could capture a platform tax on AI interactions the way it has on mobile app distribution, without bearing the capital cost of model training at scale.

Read the original reporting at Bloomberg.