As Apple eats itself, are we watching the demise of the iPhone?

AS TRUMP TURNS ON TIM COOK AND RIVALS GAIN TRACTION, JOE BROMLEY ASKS IF TIME'S UP FOR THE TECH GIANT

- JOE BROMLEY

Gen Z spent last summer belting “I think the apple’s rotten right to the core” in stadiums across the world. A year on, and to Apple chief executive Tim Cook’s dismay, it appears Charli xcx fans have manifested something most foul for a company behind some of the most influential inventions of the past half century.

The question floating around tech circles today is: despite years of total dominance, might we finally be witnessing the demise of the iPhone?

When Apple executive Eddy Cue testified “you may not need an iPhone 10 years from now, as crazy as that sounds,” during Google's antitrust trial last month, it did well to summarise what has been an increasingly terrible year for Cook, once Donald Trump’s tech whisperer — but who now finds himself outcast and beaten down.

In May, Trump targeted Apple with demands that the company make iPhones in the US — its largely China-based supply chain is part of the reason the company is valued at almost $3 trillion — with a threat of 25 per cent tariffs if it does not comply. It came with a pointed tweet from political activist Laura Loomer, who has the president's ear: “Rise and shine Tim Cook.”

A “made in the USA” iPhone would send prices rocketing, however, and is a move analysts have described as impossible at worst and highly expensive at best.