TIME’s 2026 Best Inventions: Apple CEO John Ternus Leads the Charge Into Tech’s Future

In a world being rapidly transformed by technology, Time's 25th annual list of the best inventions spotlights the most groundbreaking innovations shaping our future today. And now we are joined by Emma Barker-Bonomo, Editorial Director for Time, to dive into this year's selection. Thank you so much for being here, Emma. We really appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Of course, we love talking about these lists with you because you have so many insights into all of these incredible inventions, incredible innovations that we're seeing today. So first of all, talk to us about what criteria Time uses in selecting these inventions and what really then makes it onto the list every year. Yeah, so it's a big job. We work on this for about six months out of the year. And we're taking submissions both online for newer products that maybe we haven't heard of yet or aren't even out yet, as well as sourcing nominations from our network of reporters and editors around the world who maybe have seen something in their region that's really blowing up or something that they've been reporting on throughout the year. yeah i think it's so great that you guys really talk to your entire editorial team and get to learn about so many products that maybe one person here or there doesn't know about uh that are actually really changing the world today speaking of which talking about humanoid robots tell us a little bit about their place on the list this year something that so many of us are thinking about as we kind of move into this next phase of robotics yeah it's interesting you know the past two years we've had a humanoid robot on the cover of this issue actually and this year we didn't um part of that i think is that it is um still an evolving conversation but we did see this year the first the neo um come out uh in asia and that's a the first kind of home use humanoid robot that is available for purchase i think it's over twenty thousand dollars so it's not a low price point but it is available um for people to buy for use in their home but i think we're still seeing a lot more robotics in industry and manufacturing. And that space, you know, we have the Amazon Proteus on here, which is their first kind of warehouse fulfillment robot. It's not humanoid. It doesn't look like a person, but it's still a big landmark. And I think we're seeing sort of a pivot towards that a little more. Yeah, I think that there's a lot of interest there when it comes to, again, not just those humanoids, but as we're talking about something in the industrial commercial space as well what's something that really surprised you on the list because again a lot of people are talking about robotics thinking about robotics and how ai kind of integrates there but what's something that really surprised you that you maybe weren't thinking that you were going to see and put on the list yeah i think we saw a really interesting dichotomy in tech this year actually um i expected to see a lot of robotics a lot of ai and we did see that but we also um you know a lot of that was more focused in the workspace and the the commercial and industrial spaces um things like um you know the the neo for example um and then AI used for uh like coding Claude Code has become rampant within the coding industry and other coding uh platforms um even tech like Lovable the the um program that allows you to just code create an app just with regular language but then we saw something really interesting which is that a lot of personal tech is kind of going back to a simpler format um we have things like the dumb phone too which is a uh very basic flip phone that i think people are a little more um protective of their attention now and conscious of their privacy and they want something simpler um we also saw things like the tin can phone for kids which is you know there's this big pushback against kids having cell phones kids having social media um before the age of 16 and um i think we're seeing you know parents don't want to get their kids a cell phone but they realize kids need to be connected they want to be able to reach out to their friends and so the tin can is just an old school landline although it's an internet phone so you don't need a you don't need a landline um subscription for it and uh that kids can just call within the network of other kids who have tin cans um and it's a really simple um really simple solution so we're seeing some of that tech that sort of steps back um in terms of personal use which i thought was really interesting yeah that is a really interesting trend because, of course, all of us are thinking about the forward motion of AI and robotics and all of that new tech. But it's interesting that now people are actually taking this return to some of the maybe more nostalgic tech than some of these flip phones that you're mentioning, some of these things from the past as well. If we look at all of this new tech that is just coming down the line more rapidly than ever, talk to us about some of the different categories that you have on the list, right? Because you do have a lot of robotics, a lot of tech. What are some other categories that some listeners, some readers might not be aware of or might not think would make the list? Yeah, I mean, we have categories across all product types. We have home products, we have beauty products, we have fashion items, we have outdoor items. There's a new tent that is, you know, more disability friendly that allows people who maybe use a wheelchair to wheel into the tent um i think there's this innovation a lot of innovation around accessibility that's i think really interesting um right now and then uh yeah i think um it's really we see innovation across every sector so any place you can think of people are coming up with great ideas and using things like advancements like ai to come up with new ideas in these different spaces, which I think is really cool. It is. It's so exciting to think about that innovation and that potential really in any sector as we move forward across, again, all of these different categories here. Talk to us a little bit about Apple, because obviously this is one that we are all watching in so many different ways, especially as they come out. We just talked about the flip phone as they come out with their new foldable phone and so many other products and so many changes to their products. Talk to us a little bit about what you're seeing there with ceo john ternus now coming in and the kind of new changes that we're seeing from apple yeah apple's at a really pivotal point i mean it's their 50th year so that was a big moment for them they had huge product releases this fall um and the iphone duo is their first redesign of the iphone since it launched in 2007 so that was a really big moment for them as well um and then And yeah, new CEO and John Ternus, Tim Cook had been in the spot for 15 years. And Ternus coming into the role really kind of represented, you know, there was this kind of moment earlier in the company's history where they were sort of focusing more on services. This pivot to services, they were focusing on Apple TV, on Apple Fitness, on a bunch of the services they were featuring. and now you know turnus used to be the head of hardware he came in as a product designer product engineer at the company and um his return to the his coming into the ceo role really represents this kind of pivot back to hardware and focus on the actual products that are going to be running the ai that we um are all using every day so the the duo is really slick um really cool product uh comes out later this week in stores um and it's just really you know it has kind of the classic Apple-like attention to detail and um smart uh design that would that we've come to expect I think from Apple products yeah I think it definitely does it definitely has that design and it definitely is something that we've been waiting for for a long time right there's been so much talk so much speculation for years about when this is actually going to come out so it is such an exciting time to see that coming out now. Talk to us a little bit about the kind of overall takeaways that you're seeing when you look at what actually made the list and maybe also what didn't make the list. Where are you seeing that kind of reflected in society as we move forward? What are you noticing when it comes to trends and where we're all headed here? Yeah, I mean, I think the tech dichotomy is really interesting. I think, you know, So a lot of the tech is kind of as there's this sort of backlash to people using it, not wanting it as much in their everyday lives or in kids' lives, that our personal tech is becoming a little simpler and some of the more advanced tech is being focused on the business world and where we work. So I think that's really interesting. There's other trends that we've noticed, especially in health care. A lot of it is becoming more personal, actually. um it's coming closer to home we have the Amazon pharmacy kiosk that is popping up in different places where you can talk to video chat with a real pharmacist and then it has simple medications on uh stocked in the far in the kiosk um and uh you know the first at-home PCR STI test was approved by the FDA this FDA this year that doesn't require going into a doctor's office or anything um so I think there's a lot of health care that is uh becoming more private and more personal um and then in the climate space we're seeing um you know the big trend had been reducing emissions for a while that was like the focus now we're seeing a lot of innovations around actually removing pollution and removing problems that we have already created um the Clarios Tech UV started a PFAS destruction system, which, you know, PFAS are the forever chemicals that we hear about that are stuck in the environment forever, supposedly forever. This system destroys them permanently. So they're no longer forever, which is an amazing innovation. And there's kind of this green tech, sustainability tech space that's really booming right now. Yeah, it really seems like, I mean, it's so fascinating to think about all of these inventions in all of these different sectors. I can't wait to dig into the list more and learn more about it. We really appreciate you walking through the whole list with us, going through all of this. Thank you so much, I'm the Editorial Director for Time. We really appreciate you being here today. Thank you for having me.