It’s becoming an annual ritual for Apple to launch a new colour variant mid-season for current-generation iPhones. First came purple with the iPhone 12, then alpine green with the iPhone 13 and now yellow with the iPhone 14. While the colour might be new, the innards remain the same. And it’s the innards—specifically the Apple Silicon processors—that remain the heart and soul of the iPhone in every possible sense. Bob Borchers, vice president of worldwide marketing at Apple, is arguably the right man to talk about how Apple Silicon drives almost all things iPhone. He was recently in India for a short visit.

The investment in Apple Silicon started, according to Borchers, with the first iPhone. This is now paying real dividends “not just with the iPhone but iPad, Mac, Watch, HomePod and all our products,” said Borchers, who was part of the original iPhone team in 2007.

The camera of the iPhone is always a good talking point. The iPhone has had the most consistent cameras and yet they don’t have the headline specs found in the competition, such as a 200MP camera (Samsung) or astrophotography (Google Pixel). “That’s because we aren’t chasing specifications or a particular feature but produce devices that make our users’ lives better,” Borchers said.

To be sure, when it comes to computational photography, the company leads the charge along with Google. Borchers says that year after year Apple is making its Neural Engine more powerful.

The Neural Engine is what allows Apple to use machine-learning models that make the iPhone camera better, for instance. The Neural Engine is capable of performing close to 17 trillion operations per second, allowing for a pixel-by-pixel analysis to optimise the photos. The result? Better images in low light with all the camera sensors on the iPhone 14 Pro. The same goes for the Photonic Engine, which Apple introduced with the iPhone 14 series.

“Because we can design our products together with Apple Silicon, we are able to create experiences that are unheard of,” said Borchers. He cites the example of Fursat, a recent short film commissioned by Apple and directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. “The action mode allowed the actor and the director to interact with the camera in a way that was possible only because of the Apple Silicon.”

Having said that, there’s an argument to be made that the iPhone over the years has had too many ‘smarts’ added when it comes to the camera. The pros may rejoice but an average user might be overwhelmed. “We never want to compromise on what a layperson can do or what a professional can do. We have to strike the right balance and it’s something we strive to do,” Borchers said.

The veteran has had stints at Nokia, Dolby and Nike before Apple, where the focus is on the user. “Everything that we do is done with keeping the customer in mind,” said Borchers, who likes visiting countries to see what people are doing with Apple’s products.

HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
Apple has control over almost everything it does with its products. It owns the stack— processor and software, giving it a significant edge over the competition. This integration between hardware and software remains the key to innovation, Borchers said.

There is an argument to be made about how Apple keeps it all closely guarded, even for developers. Take the case of the transition from Intel-based Macs to M1-based machines. Or even the App Store guidelines that developers have to adhere to. Critics argue that Apple’s ecosystem is extremely closed.

Borchers said developers want great tools that allow them to create software. Apple Silicon makes their job easier.

“What they want is to reach out to a broader audience and Apple Silicon is there in the iPhone, iPad and Mac,” he said. “This gives them the opportunity to use the same code path and it makes the developers’ jobs easier. Our job is to educate the developers on how straightforward it actually is to move from a small screen to a big screen.”

For instance, the iPhone’s spam-blocking capabilities are sharper due to Apple Silicon. “We are always looking to work with carrier partners and everybody in the ecosystem to do what’s right for our customers,” he said. Privacy remains a core part of what Apple does, be it designing the products or services. The A15 Bionic processor in the iPhone 14 comes with a Secure Enclave that protects all personal information like FaceID data and contacts — that’s down to Apple Silicon, he said.

“We focus hard on privacy and at times, there are some hard trade-offs but we are always going to err on the side of what’s right for our users,” he pointed out.