SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Apple celebrates its 50th anniversary as artificial intelligence (AI) challenges the Silicon Valley legend to prove it can deliver yet another culture-changing innovation.

Steve Jobs, a driven marketing genius, and Steve Wozniak, who invented the Apple computer, revolutionized how people use technology in the internet age and built a company now worth more than $3.6 trillion.

The two college dropouts changed the way people use computers, listen to music and communicate on the go, giving rise to lifestyles revolving around smartphone apps.

Apple’s hit products "the Mac, the iPhone, the Apple Watch and the iPad" command a cult-like following, long after the company’s humble beginnings on 1 April 1976 in Jobs’ Cupertino, California garage.

Apple has sold more than 3.1 billion iPhones since the handsets debuted in 2007, generating about $2.3 trillion in revenue, according to Counterpoint Research.

For Counterpoint analyst Yang Wang, the iPhone is the most successful consumer electronics product ever, reshaping human communication while becoming “a global fashion and status symbol.”

Before the iPhone, Apple shook up home computing with the 1984 Macintosh, whose icon-based interface and mouse made computing accessible beyond specialists — and sparked a legendary rivalry between Jobs and Microsoft’s Bill Gates.

“Apple was founded on the simple notion that technology should be personal, and that belief — radical at the time — changed everything,” chief executive Tim Cook said in an anniversary letter posted online.

‘AI challenge’

A concern haunting investors is that Apple appears to be easing into generative AI while rivals Google, Microsoft and OpenAI race ahead.

A promised upgrade to its Siri digital assistant was delayed, in what analysts called a rare stumble for the company.

And rather than relying on its own engineers to overhaul Siri, Apple has turned to Google for AI capability.

But whether built in-house or outsourced, Apple’s obsession with user privacy and its premium hardware could position it to drive widespread adoption of personalized AI — and make it profitable, a goal that has proved elusive for much of the AI industry.

Already, Apple’s AirPods are being steadily improved with sensors and smart software, and lessons learned from the Vision Pro could feed into AI smart glasses to rival Meta’s.

“They are the ones that always seem able to create something so simple that users just fall in love with it,” said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Creative Strategies.