Technology giant Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) was founded 50 years on April 1, 1976. Showing no signs of slowing down, company executives see one of the company's key existing products as a staple for the next 50 years.

50 More Years of iPhone

Apple unveiled the iPhone on Jan. 9, 2007, and released the first model later that year in June. For the past 19 years, the iPhone has been one of the leading smartphones worldwide and a staple of Apple's annual revenue.

In a recent interview with Wired, Apple executives fought back at the notion that the company isn't focused enough on AI products.

"We were doing AI before we called it AI!," Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Greg Joswiak told Wired. "Every single great chatbot works great on our products."

Apple Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering John Ternus said Apple's products are the "best place" for people to use AI tools.

While Apple may release more AI-friendly products, the company has no plans to make a successor to the iPhone.

"The iPhone is not going to go away," Joswiak added. "iPhone is going to serve a very central role in any of those things you're talking about."

The Apple executive says, "it's hard to imagine not" when asked about people using the iPhone 50 years from now.

"That's where everybody else struggles. They don't have an iPhone, and so they're scrambling for what to do."

Joswiak said he wouldn't get too far into future road maps for Apple products.

"But I will tell you, iPhones are not going anywhere."

Tim Cook on Apple's Next 50 Years

Wired also spoke to Apple CEO Tim Cook at an Apple anniversary event. The Apple CEO said it won't just be products that make Apple great over the next 50 years, but also the company's people, values and culture.

"Yes, the technologies of the future will change," Cook told Wired. "Yes, there will be more products and more categories. All of those things are true, but the things that made Apple Apple will be the same for the next 50 years, and the next 100 and the next 1,000."

Photo: Tim Cook, Shutterstock; Apple iPhone 16e, courtesy Apple