Will Apple Be the Next Nokia?

The tech industry is no stranger to dramatic shifts in power. Giants can fall as quickly as they rise, and the story of Nokia’s rapid decline remains a cautionary tale for all. Today, as Apple faces mounting questions about its artificial intelligence (AI) strategy, some wonder: could Apple repeat Nokia’s mistakes and lose its crown? Let’s dig deeper into why Nokia lost its dominance, how Apple’s approach to AI could put it at risk, and what steps Apple must take to avoid becoming the next big tech casualty.

Why Did Nokia Fail to Embrace New Technology?

Nokia once stood at the pinnacle of the mobile phone world, holding over half of the global market. Its brand was synonymous with reliability and innovation. Yet, within just a few years, that dominance evaporated.

Nokia’s downfall was driven by a mix of overconfidence and inertia. Leadership grew complacent, believing their market share was unassailable. This attitude bred a culture resistant to change, where bureaucracy and internal competition stifled new ideas. As the industry shifted, Nokia failed to recognize that the future of mobile devices was not just in hardware, but in software and ecosystems. While Apple and Google were building robust app stores and seamless user experiences, Nokia clung to its aging Symbian operating system, unable to pivot quickly enough.

When Nokia finally tried to catch up, its efforts were fragmented and too late. The partnership with Microsoft and the adoption of Windows Phone failed to capture consumer interest. Meanwhile, Nokia’s own attempts at creating services and app ecosystems were underwhelming. The company also ignored changing consumer preferences, failing to deliver on the features and experiences users wanted.

Ultimately, Nokia’s story is one of missed opportunities and a failure to adapt. Its leadership underestimated the pace of technological change and overestimated the loyalty of its customers.

Apple’s Slow AI Adoption: A Red Flag?

Apple has built its reputation on delivering polished, reliable products that “just work.” Its focus on privacy and user experience has set it apart from competitors. However, as AI becomes the next wave of transformative technology, Apple’s measured approach is starting to raise eyebrows.

Competitors like Google, Samsung, and Microsoft have been quick to integrate advanced AI into their devices and services. Features like real-time language translation, context-aware assistance, and powerful generative tools are becoming standard elsewhere. By comparison, Apple’s AI—especially Siri—has long felt less capable and less ambitious, often struggling with basic contextual understanding while competitors leap forward.

Apple’s AI features are often limited to the latest hardware, leaving many users behind. The company’s walled garden approach, once a strength, now risks isolating it as AI becomes more interconnected and cross-platform. While Apple continues to emphasize privacy and reliability, the pace of innovation has felt slower than what the market now demands. This caution could be Apple’s Achilles’ heel. In a world where consumers expect rapid, meaningful improvements, being too slow to adopt and deploy cutting-edge AI could erode Apple’s competitive edge.

WWDC 2025: A Foundation, Not a Revolution

At its much-anticipated WWDC 2025, Apple finally laid out a broader strategy for "Apple Intelligence." The announcements showcased a deep, foundational push to embed AI across its platforms, but left many wondering if it was enough to truly catch up.

On one hand, the company unveiled useful, practical features. Live translation is now built into FaceTime, Messages, and phone calls. Maps will learn a user's preferred routes and proactively warn them about traffic. Developers were given access to Apple's on-device "Foundation Models," a crucial step toward fostering a new generation of intelligent, private apps.

However, the event also highlighted Apple’s lingering caution. The most striking omission was the complete absence of a major Siri overhaul; the digital assistant remains a weak point. New features like "Visual Intelligence"—which lets users screenshot an image and ask questions about its content—felt derivative. As reviewers noted, it’s a useful addition, but its implementation feels clunkier and less intuitive than Android's "Circle to Search," suggesting Apple is still playing catch-up rather than innovating.

Apple's other major announcement was "Liquid Glass," a significant visual overhaul for its operating systems, representing the biggest design change since iOS 7. While visually appealing, this focus on aesthetics felt like a classic Apple move: polishing the surface while the engine underneath still needs a tune-up. Furthermore, the prominent mention and deeper integration of ChatGPT throughout the keynote signaled a blurring of lines, hinting that Apple may not be fully confident in its own proprietary AI to compete head-on. The overall impression was one of incremental improvement—building a solid foundation, but not delivering the revolutionary leap many had hoped for.

Apple’s AI Research: Missing the Point?

Recently, Apple released a research paper arguing that large language models (LLMs) are limited to “memory recall or pattern matching,” citing engineering constraints like the lack of tool use. This perspective, which seems to inform the incremental nature of its WWDC announcements, has drawn criticism for missing the broader trend in AI research. Leading labs are already working on models that can reason, use tools, and handle multiple types of input.

By focusing on the limitations of current models rather than pushing the boundaries, Apple risks falling further behind. The company’s engineering-driven approach, while valuable for ensuring quality and privacy, may be too conservative in an industry that rewards bold experimentation. The features shown at WWDC 2025 reflect this mindset: reliable, on-device, and privacy-focused, but lacking the "wow" factor that defines market leadership.

The Holy Grail: The True AI Personal Assistant

The next decade of mobile innovation won't be about sleeker hardware or more vibrant screens. The market will be won by whoever first delivers a true AI personal assistant—an entity that functions as a genuine human assistant would. Imagine an assistant that can seamlessly book your calendar appointments after parsing a complex email chain, intelligently sort your inbox to surface only mission-critical messages, automatically generate a to-do list based on your commitments, and even draft context-aware email replies based on your personal preferences.

This is the future of mobile, and it will not be delivered by Siri in its current form. To achieve this, an assistant must be powered by frontier models with a sophisticated agentic layer on top, enabling it to reason, plan, and execute multi-step tasks across different apps. Siri, even with its WWDC25 enhancements, remains a reactive tool, not a proactive partner. For more reading about Agentic AI, you may be interested in this book:

Apple has taken a small step in the right direction by partnering with Anthropic to enhance its Xcode development tools. This is a positive but insufficient move. To truly lead, Apple should pursue a much closer and broader partnership with an AI leader like Anthropic, or even consider a merger. A bold, strategic move has precedent: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s recent decision to acquire a significant stake in Scale AI and have its leadership spearhead Meta's new AI lab shows a clear understanding of what is required to win. A similar, decisive move by Tim Cook with Anthropic would signal that Apple is serious about winning the AI race, not just participating in it.

What Must Apple Do to Avoid Nokia’s Fate?

To avoid repeating Nokia’s mistakes, Apple must act decisively:

• Accelerate AI Innovation: Apple needs to invest heavily in foundational AI research. This means going beyond incremental updates and working on agentic models that can reason, use tools, and interact with the world in more sophisticated ways.

• Embrace Strategic Partnerships or Acquisitions: The company must recognize it cannot do everything alone. A deep, strategic alliance with or acquisition of an AI leader like Anthropic would supercharge its efforts and provide the frontier model capabilities it currently lacks.

• Prioritize User Value: While privacy and reliability are important, Apple must also deliver AI features that genuinely improve users’ lives. The goal should be the creation of a true AI assistant that is powerful and ahead of the curve.

• Empower Developers: By giving developers better tools and access to on-device AI models, Apple can foster a new generation of intelligent, innovative apps.

• Stay Humble and Responsive: Apple should remain vigilant, listen to customer feedback, and be willing to pivot quickly as technology and user expectations evolve.

Conclusion

Apple is not yet in the same precarious position Nokia once found itself, but the warning signs are there. As AI reshapes the tech landscape, the company must move beyond its comfort zone of polished hardware and incremental software updates. The lesson from Nokia’s fall is clear: no company, no matter how dominant, is immune to disruption. Apple's future depends on its ability to adapt, lead, and deliver the kind of true AI-powered personal assistant that will define the next era of technology. The world is watching to see if Apple can rise to the challenge—or if it will become another chapter in the history of missed opportunities.