iPhones are projected to start showing many more ads in the near future ^↺

The business of serving ads in social media feeds might be faltering; however, Apple is still reportedly convinced that there is money to be made in the industry. Tim Cook lavished time on it and touting its potential for revenue during the Cupertino giant's latest investor conference, especially in comparison to other emerging concerns such as its services or augmented-reality aspirations.

Furthermore, Apple's head of advertising, Todd Teresi, reportedly aims to at least double this division's earnings (currently estimated at about US$4 billion) over the next few years. However, to do this, the OEM's UIs will have to start showing more ads, such as those currently seen in iOS' News feed. A lot more of them.

Bloomberg's tech correspondent Mark Gurman claims that this initiative will start with more ads in the App Store. Currently, the marketplace does have some already; however, they are said to proliferate into the Today tab, as well as into the pages for individual third-party apps.

Furthermore, Gurman is now of the belief that Apple's Maps will update to start showing ads in its search UI, as well as those in first-party content apps, such as Podcasts. Therefore, iOS may become much more of an ad-supported UI in the future (as might iPadOS, for that matter).

That might seem ironic, particularly in light of the premiums (that may rise yet further soon) charged for each new iPhone - not to mention Apple's App Tracking Transparency options. Nevertheless, the company asserts that its in-house ad system “does not follow you across apps and websites owned by other companies”.