After a pair of interviews earlier this month, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller recently sat down with The Telegraph to talk about his take on Apple’s latest and greatest products in 2018, that really bad week for software bugs, and more…

Of course, Schiller is quick to tout Apple’s smartphone lineup in 2017 and how it represents the company’s continued innovation. He explains that the goal of the iPhone 8 was to create a “new-generation phone” just as it has done every year:

“It was a very new kind of year for us,” Schiller says. “It’s something we’ve been planning for quite a long time, we wanted the opportunity to create a new-generation phone as we’ve done every year and that was 8.”

On the other hand, Schiller says the iPhone X was Apple’s way to change its pace from smartphones of previous years in a more aggressive way:

“At the same time we wanted to create something that was even more aggressive, even more of a departure from where iPhone had been going, and that’s iPhone X. It’s something we haven’t offered that way before but it’s worked really well.”

All in all, Apple currently sells five different lines of iPhones, but Schiller doesn’t seem to agree with suggestions that the company’s product line is becoming cluttered.

For instance, he explains the iPhone SE – which is nearly two years old at this point – still exists because “it meets those needs” of some consumers. As for the rumors suggesting an impending refresh of the device, Schiller says he “can’t make any statements about the future.”

As for the HomePod delay, Schiller says it represents a way in which Apple is different from its competitors. He says many companies are willing to release a product just to hit its targeted release date – but that’s not Apple’s strategy:

“Not everyone in our industry follows that model. We’re at the very, very beginning of this market of intelligent music speakers that we want in our home. Some companies like to put things out even if they don’t think it will succeed at the start, we care a lot about the quality of the things we want to put out there and so if it’s not ready it’s not ready yet.”

Perhaps most interestingly, Schiller is pressed for details on how Apple allowed for a slew of software bugs in 2017, including the “root” vulnerability in macOS, the “i” bug in iOS, a major security hole in HomeKit, and more. Schiller tosses the more recent issues up to a “bad week” but notes that Apple is going to audit its systems and do some “soul-searching.”

“We just had a bad week. A couple of things happened, that’s all. The team is going to audit the systems and look carefully at the process and do some soul-searching, and do everything that they can to keep this from happening again.”

The full interview is definitely worth a read with Schiller touching on augmented reality, how the new iOS 11 App Store is revitalizing growth, and more.

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