Apple's Biggest Mistake? Ex-Nokia And Tesla Engineer Explains What's Really Going Wrong

Over the weekend, Yun-Ta Tsai, a former Nokia Telecommunications NOK researcher and current Tesla Inc. TSLA senior staff engineer, shared his perspective on Apple Inc.'s AAPL slow adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous vehicles.

What Happened: Tsai took to X, formerly Twitter, and recalled his time at Nokia, where engineers debated the transition from physical keyboards to touchscreens.

While U.S. engineers pushed for touchscreens to lead the way, he said, Finnish engineers were hesitant, believing the transition was too risky. Tsai noted the same "legacy crutches" that held Nokia back are now plaguing Apple.

Pierre Ferragu, an analyst with New Street Research, corroborated Tsai's sentiments, recalling a conversation in 2007 when Nokia's CTO dismissed touchscreens.

Tsai went on to discuss Apple's attitude toward emerging technologies like AI and autonomous vehicles, pointing out that despite having competitive hardware, the company is struggling with execution.

"The problem of Apple is that they have every pieces they need to be dominant," but the tech giant doesn't feel the urgency, Tsai said.

He referenced Apple's attitude toward Full-Self Driving (FSD), where the company's machine learning manager dismissed the technology's potential. "They believed their models were superior and they were taking their time," Tsai noted.

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Tsai acknowledged that Apple has competitive chips (System on Chips, or SoCs) and technology but said they have execution issues.

“I think their chips are quite competitive in my opinion,” Tsai said, adding, “What they lack, is not technology, but execution.”

Why It's Important: Apple's ambitious plan to transform the auto industry came to a sudden halt after ten years of development and billions in spending. The secretive effort — dubbed "Titan" inside the company — faced constant challenges, from leadership uncertainty to technical obstacles and evolving goals, before being officially scrapped in February 2024.

Now doubts are mounting over Apple's ability to have an edge in fast-evolving fields like AI and spatial computing, especially as nimble startups and tech giants like Alphabet Inc.'s GOOG GOOGL Google and Meta Platforms, Inc. META push ahead.

Reports have also emerged that suggested that Apple executives had considered acquiring Perplexity AI, but the startup has since stated it has no knowledge of any ongoing or planned acquisition discussions.

Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings indicate that Apple's shares continue to trend downward across short, medium and long-term periods. Additional performance details are available here.