Does it matter whether or not they have a better model? Is frontier-level intelligence needed for the kind of day-to-day tasks people use their phones for? I’m not convinced this will be a big differentiator in this area.
I think it will be. Smarter, more efficient to inference, faster to inference. I don't think Apple will win any of these categories.
Therefore, I don't think they will be able to compete well in the new world.