Apple Executives Discuss MacBook Neo, AI, and Smart Glasses in Interview [Video]

Apple executives Greg Joswiak and John Ternus recently sat down with Tom's Guide to discuss the company's hardware strategy, addressing the development of the MacBook Neo, the separation of the Mac and iPad product lines, and the future of artificial intelligence and wearables. The interview follows Apple's recent 50th anniversary celebration and comes as the company reflects on five decades of consumer technology.



The conversation heavily featured the recently launched MacBook Neo. The $599 laptop utilizes an A18 Pro chip paired with 8GB of RAM, bringing the Mac down to a much lower starting price. Joswiak, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, said the device was completely rethought, featuring a new trackpad and an entirely re-engineered enclosure. Ternus, senior vice president of hardware engineering, drew a sharp contrast between the Neo and competing budget Windows machines. He pointed out that rival products often rely on flexible plastic enclosures to cut costs, whereas Apple focused on delivering high value at a lower price. When discussing the naming convention, Joswiak explained that calling the device a standard MacBook would have left it without a distinct identity. The Neo moniker was chosen to convey a sense of newness and the reinvention of a high-value laptop.


Despite recent hardware overlap, Apple maintains that the Mac and iPad remain separate platforms. With iPads gaining more desktop-class features in iPadOS 26 and a touchscreen MacBook Pro reportedly in development, speculation has picked up around a potential merger of the two lines. Ternus pushed back on that, saying there has never been an internal effort to mash the two products together. He explained that the engineering teams stay focused on making each product better rather than worrying about the impact one device might have on another.

The executives also addressed Apple's position in wearables and spatial computing. Joswiak pointed to the Vision Pro as a device that reached into the future to demonstrate how digital and physical environments can be combined. While he declined to provide a specific timeline for when spatial computing might evolve into new form factors, he said combining the two worlds is inevitable. Separately, Apple is widely reported to be developing lightweight smart glasses alongside other AI-focused wearable concepts tied to its broader Visual Intelligence push.

Artificial intelligence was another focal point of the discussion. Apple is reportedly preparing to open Siri to third-party AI assistants in iOS 27 while continuing to build out its own features. Ternus emphasized that Apple does not prioritize shipping raw technology, but instead looks for ways to use it to create tangible features for users. He cited the Live Translation capability on the latest AirPods as an example of this approach. Joswiak echoed this sentiment, saying the goal is to bring humanity to the technology so users do not need to become chatbot experts to benefit from it.

Both executives acknowledged that Apple's history includes several notable product failures. Joswiak referenced the original 2008 MacBook Air, which suffered from thermal issues, a slow hard drive, and a high starting price. The company learned from those missteps, redesigning the machine in 2010 with flash storage and a lower price point to create what is now described as the world's most popular laptop. Ternus pointed to the rocky launch of Apple Maps in 2012. He noted that continued development over the years eventually turned a heavily criticized application into a highly capable platform.


Looking ahead to Apple's next 50 years, the two executives offered different perspectives on the company's trajectory. Joswiak selected the word human to describe the future, reaffirming that putting people at the center of the technology will remain Apple's primary objective. Ternus chose the word exciting, pointing to the capabilities and products the company is working on across the hardware engineering division.