Apple’s AI moment: When Brand outspaces Product

At WWDC 2024, Apple entered the AI race with the announcement of Apple Intelligence. But instead of sparking excitement, it left many confused. While companies like Google, Microsoft, and Adobe continue to push the boundaries of AI product development, Apple’s offering felt more like a branding exercise than a technical leap. The keynote had the signature polish, but the substance felt light.

This is not just about one event. It signals a deeper issue. Apple is facing a product marketing challenge, balancing its long-standing brand identity with the demands of an innovation-driven market. As Benedict Evans pointed out in his post-keynote review, Apple’s new features “feel more like a UX layer than a tech layer.” Enhancements were showcased, but breakthroughs were hard to spot.

Design Without Delivery

Apple’s reputation is built on a fluid  hardware-software integration. But in the AI era, clarity and utility matter more than refinement alone. The company emphasized on-device processing and private cloud integration as differentiators. Yet, as John Gruber mentioned in Daring Fireball, the actual benefits of Apple Intelligence remained vague, even to seasoned observers.

The keynote leaned on familiar tropes: privacy, ecosystem, and experience. But AI requires more. We didn’t see transformative workflows. We saw email rewrites and emoji suggestions. Meanwhile, Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot are already showing how AI enhances creativity, decision-making, and productivity across use cases.

The core problem? Apple’s story felt disconnected from product reality. It was a marketing promise, not a product revelation.

Product Marketing Demands More

According to the State of Product Marketing Report 2025, 74% of product marketers say their role is now more product-led than before. Today, marketing is no longer a layer on top of the product. It needs to be embedded in the product experience itself, supporting adoption, explaining value, and building trust.

Apple’s global brand equity remains strong. But as the report explains, “the gap between brand perception and product experience is widening for companies that treat marketing as a layer, not a loop.” We’ve seen this story before. Nokia had global dominance and design strength but failed to adapt when platforms and ecosystems became central to user value.

This is Apple’s risk too. Its AI story, as told at WWDC, felt more like a placeholder than a vision.

Some Bright Spots

That said, Apple is not standing still. Its privacy-by-design approach is a real differentiator. The tight hardware integration it can achieve with its M-series chips gives it an edge. And the OpenAI partnership, while controversial, shows that Apple is willing to collaborate when needed.

The challenge lies in how these strengths are communicated. Apple needs to shift from brand-led storytelling to product-led clarity. That means using language users can connect with, showing use cases that solve real problems, and being transparent about what’s coming next.

Where We Stand at Orchid

Apple reminded us this year that brand power alone won’t carry the next wave of innovation. In a world shaped by AI, users are asking harder questions: What does this feature do for me? How does it work? Why should I trust it?

If a feature needs a long explanation to be understood, there’s a clarity problem. If users don’t notice what’s changed after an update, the communication wasn’t effective. If onboarding is unclear, fewer people will adopt the product, and even fewer will trust it.

At Orchid, we believe product marketing should support understanding at every step, from naming and UX copy to onboarding and release communication. It’s not about selling features. It’s about making sure people can use them, benefit from them, and trust them.