Apple has made a "sustaining innovation" bet on AI.

And they (seem to have) executed very well on it!

A well-executed sustaining innovation play by one of the most powerful incumbents removes some of the oxygen in the room for disruptors.

This was a play that Microsoft did with browsers back in the day.

Apple has done the "simply cut out the edge cases" opinionated cut, which creates a radically simpler thing than alternatives that still delivers maybe 80% of the value.

But if AI has the potential to be disruptive, then that 80% of the value might actually be more like 10%; too little to actually stop the disruptive force.

If AI turns out to be a disruptive technology, the incumbents can only delay it, they can't stop it.