The biggest surprise of my recent San Francisco trip? Hearing how much Steve Wozniak loves his iPhone Air
The Apple co-founder also has some AI skepticism
by https://www.techradar.com/uk/author/hamish-hector · TechRadarNews By Hamish Hector published 3 May 2026
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Whether it's rocket car launches, the reveal of the most gaudy phones you’ve ever seen, or a fingerprint-scanning smart fridge debut, Dreame Next was full of surprises — but the most exciting for me was easily the appearance of Steve Wozniak. It turns out he’s among the few people who adore the iPhone Air.
Starting with his thoughts on the latest Apple phones, Wozniak mentioned also loving his iPhone 17 Pro Max — though he calls the orange color model the Trump phone, given it shares the US president’s complexion — but for him, as he waved the iPhone Air he pulled from his jacket pocket to the crowd, the improbably slim device wins out.
Because “it invokes an emotion” with its unique aesthetics that feel infused with human passion.
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For Wozniak, this human element is what matters most: “Human beings are more important than the technology.”
And the only way for a company to focus on this human element over all else, in Wozniak’s mind, is if engineers — the people who possess the know-how and passion to conjure designs that people want to use, and to love — are leading the charge at the highest levels.
While he didn’t directly mention Apple’s current situation beyond the iPhone Air endorsement, I couldn’t help but feel his constant references to the importance of engineers in leadership positions was an endorsement of the incoming Apple CEO, John Ternus.
An instrumental figure in Apple’s hardware for the past couple of decades, even heading up its hardware engineering division, Ternus could bring the engineer’s ability to “lead design with their hearts” that Wozniak lauded.
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