Former Apple CEO explains why OpenAI is iPhone maker’s ‘first real competitor’ in decades

Former Apple CEO John Sculley has warned that his former employer is facing the first real threat “in many decades” in the form of ChatGPT maker OpenAI. Notably, Apple has lagged behind in its AI rollout compared to rivals like Samsung, Google, OpenAI, and others.

​The company has been relying on ChatGPT to answer many of the more complex queries asked by users to its Siri voice assistant. There have been reports of the Cupertino-based tech giant turning to Google in the future to power its revamped Siri update.

​”AI has not been a particular strength for them,” Sculley said at the Zeta Live 2025 conference.

​”In the agentic era, we don’t need a lot of apps; it can all be done with smart agents,” he added.

​”When we had apps at the center of everything, it was selling tools, selling products…When you think of subscription, it’s about people paying for something as long as they need it,” he further noted.

​Sculley also talked about former Apple designer Jony Ive joining hands with OpenAI to design the company’s next generation of AI-based hardware devices.

​”He’s the one who actually designed and built the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad…If there’s anyone who is probably going to be able to bring that dimension to the LLM, in this case OpenAI, it’s probably going to be Jony Ive, working with Sam Altman,” Sculley noted.

​Who is John Sculley?

​Sculley served as the CEO of Apple from 1983 to 1993. He was recruited by Steve Jobs for the job and later became famous for ousting Jobs from the tech giant in 1985.

​Amid declining profits and internal turmoil over Apple’s future, Sculley was ousted by the company’s board of directors in 1993 and replaced with Chief Operating Officer Michael Spindler. Apple would go on to acquire Jobs’ NeXT in 1997, which paved the way for the founder to return to the company.

​Meanwhile, Sculley co-founded a data-driven marketing company called Zeta Global in 2007 and remained an active part of the company for the next 25 years, only retiring in 2025.