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You may not realize it yet, but the smartphone is dying. That sleek, glowing rectangle glued to your hand—the status symbol that defined the last 15 years of tech—is headed for the museum. The iPhone was built for the Age of the Mobile Internet. And we’re no longer in that era. We’re now fully entering the Age of AI—and AI doesn’t want your thumbs. It doesn’t want your screen. It wants your eyes, your ears, and your intent. And to serve that, it needs a new form factor. So what replaces the iPhone? Glasses. That’s not a sci-fi guess. That’s the writing on the wall—spray-painted in neon this past week. The Battle for Your Face Has Begun Just this week: - Alphabet (GOOGL) announced a $150 million partnership with Warby Parker to launch AI-powered smart glasses, set to arrive as soon as 2026.
- OpenAI acquired Jony Ive’s AI hardware startup for $6.4 billion. Ive, for reference, designed the original iPhone in 2007.
- Ive has taken complete creative control at OpenAI and is tasked with building a new generation of AI-first hardware devices.
It’s clear that Alphabet and OpenAI are betting the future of tech in the AI era is screenless. And they’re not alone. Meta Platforms (META) has been investing heavily in this space for several quarters, going all-in on its partnership with Ray-Ban. Its smart glasses have become wildly popular, with sales tripling in the past year—helped along, perhaps, by a Thor endorsement. Meta is also working on a stealth project—Orion—that aims to deliver finger-controlled AI glasses. Pretty futuristic stuff. Amazon (AMZN) continues to ship Echo Frames, betting on Alexa as the voice assistant of the ambient future. And yes, Apple Glasses are reportedly in development, evolving from Vision Pro into a lightweight, mass-market format. This isn’t a trend. This is a form factor war. And all of these companies—every one of them—is scrambling for one reason: They know the smartphone’s time is up. And whoever replaces it wins the next two decades. The iPhone Was for the Internet. Glasses Are for AI. The smartphone won the 2010s because it was perfectly tuned for the Mobile Internet Era: app icons, touchscreens, notifications, browsing, scrolling, clicking. But AI doesn’t thrive in that world. AI isn’t an app you tap. It’s an agent that observes, listens, and acts. It’s ambient. Contextual. Proactive. Invisible. The next device isn’t a better phone—it’s a layer between you and the world. Glasses sit on your face. They see what you see. They hear what you hear. And they can guide, narrate, summarize, translate, recommend, and remember—without you ever unlocking a screen. Smartphones are for input. AI is for interaction. That means the iPhone’s successor isn’t in your pocket. It’s on your face. That’s why every Big Tech firm is rushing to build AI glasses—not another smartphone. Who Will Build the AI Glasses That Replace the Phone? This is the most competitive tech race right now—for good reason. The prize is nothing short of global tech dominance. It’s Apple (AAPL) versus OpenAI versus Meta versus Alphabet versus Amazon. A multi trillion-dollar slugfest. Who wins? Hard to say—but here’s what matters: You don’t need to pick the winner to find winning investments in the AI glasses shift. Let’s rewind to 2007. When Apple launched the iPhone, it didn’t just create a new product—it created an entire tech economy: - The App Store ecosystem
- Mobile-first advertising
- Push notification infrastructure
- Camera, audio, and sensor tech—all built into this new platform
Apple was a massive winner. But dozens of other major stock winners were born in and around the iPhone ecosystem. Think Meta and Spotify (SPOT), which built smartphone-first apps. Think Cisco Systems (CSCO), Broadcom (AVGO), and Qualcomm (QCOM), which powered smartphone networking. Think Skyworks Solutions (SWKS), Cirrus Logic (CRUS), and Corning (GLW), which supplied key iPhone components. The best way to invest in the iPhone wasn’t just to buy Apple—it was to invest in the entire ecosystem. The same logic applies to the AI glasses race: invest in the ecosystem. And here’s the good news—we think the ecosystem will look similar no matter who wins ambient computing. | Recommended Link | | | | I have something to confess today. I think the #1 Tech Stock of 2025… Will NOT be an AI company. Instead, a new technology will steal the headline. Click here to get more details. |  | | The Key Suppliers Behind AI Glasses Whoever wins will likely rely on custom chips from Arm Holdings (ARM) or Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors (already in Meta Ray-Bans). Nvidia (NVDA) will probably power much of the on-device AI. Sony Group (SONY) may lead in camera sensor supply—its tech is already best-in-class. Lumentum Holdings (LITE), STMicroelectronics (STM), and Himax Technologies (HIMX) could supply optical sensors, LiDAR, and gesture-tracking modules. Ambarella (AMBA) might deliver the computer vision chips. Corning (GLW), a longtime iPhone supplier, could provide smart lens glass and optics. SoundHound AI (SOUN) is vying for a spot in voice recognition APIs, though competition is stiff and Big Tech may prefer to build in-house. Twilio (TWLO) wants in, too. Unity Software (U) is another wild card. AI glasses need a spatial OS—not just a pixel OS. Unity’s real-time 3D rendering engine is tailor-made for spatial rendering, gaze tracking, gesture recognition, and environmental overlays. Then there’s Okta (OKTA), which could carve out a niche in identity and security management for AI-driven ambient systems. Of course, the AI glasses ecosystem is still forming. But the field is full of strong contenders. Final Thoughts The iPhone changed how we accessed the internet. AI glasses will change how we interact with reality. And just like last time, fortunes will be made—not just from the device, but from the ecosystem that helps it see, hear, think, and respond. The smartphone era was about touchscreens and apps. The AI era is about ambient intelligence and agents. And that demands a new form factor. The iPhone is dead. Long live AI glasses. Click here to learn more about some of the exciting investment opportunities we see emerging in this next wave of AI. Sincerely, | 
