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<\/p>\nJul 30 2024<\/p>\n
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The\u00a0iPhone 16<\/a>\u00a0will launch without some of the headline\u00a0Apple Intelligence<\/a>\u00a0features \u2013 which are arguably the biggest reason for most to upgrade to the new models.<\/p>\n While Apple is taking an understandably cautious approach here, the company runs the risk of disappointing or confusing its customers \u2026<\/p>\n Yesterday\u2019s big news was of course the launch of\u00a0the first iOS 18.1 developer beta<\/a>, which provides access to the first set of Apple Intelligence features:<\/p>\n But even for developers, Apple is taking it slow. Some of the features we expected to be included in the 18.1 beta weren\u2019t, among them the AI image generation tool\u00a0Image Playground<\/a>.<\/p>\n Notably, we\u2019re not expecting a public beta of iOS 18.1 \u2013 only developers get to play with AI for now. Apple is likely to take this route because, even in the official iOS releases, the company is labelling all of the AI features as \u201cbeta,\u201d just as did with the original Siri launch. Launching a beta of a beta is just too messy for public consumption.<\/p>\n Officially, all Apple has said is that Apple Intelligence will launch in \u201cthe fall.\u201d Given that the season starts on September 22 and ends on December 20, that doesn\u2019t narrow things down too much!<\/p>\n There\u2019s also considerable uncertainty as to what will and won\u2019t be included at launch. The really big changes will come with the full-on new Siri, with ChatGPT as fallback.\u00a0Bloomberg<\/a><\/em>\u00a0has said this won\u2019t even launch as a developer beta until 2025, but the\u00a0WSJ<\/em>\u00a0yesterday contradicted that, claiming that\u00a0some<\/em>\u00a0of these features will arrive\u00a0by the end of this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n Before the New Year\u2019s Eve ball drops, Siri will get ChatGPT integration and the ability to tap in to your personal context. (Example: \u201cWhen should I leave to get mom from the airport?\u201d)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n However, Joanna Stern went on to say that \u201cSiri\u2019s ability to perform actions within third-party apps is coming next year.\u201d<\/p>\n Apple Intelligence is going to be the biggest reason to upgrade to a new iPhone in a long time. Of existing models, only the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max will let you use all the upcoming AI features \u2013 everyone else is going to need to buy a new phone.<\/p>\n Apple\u2019s challenge is going to be how to communicate this \u2013 and encourage those upgrades \u2013 without creating a mess of confusion and disappointment. If you buy your shiny new phone expecting Siri to finally be smart, and it\u2019s not, then that risks putting a large dent in Apple\u2019s brand image.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t even know whether the iPhone 16 will launch with\u00a0any<\/em>\u00a0Apple Intelligence features. If it ships with iOS 18.0, and iOS 18.1 is needed for even the limited selection of AI features developers got yesterday, then it may remain disappointingly unintelligent on day one.<\/p>\n That much is manageable. Apple could either preinstall iOS 18.1 in phones before they ship, or use the Presto system launched earlier this year to\u00a0update them in-store<\/a>\u00a0before they go on sale. Absolute worst-case, it makes the update available a week or so afterwards, so buyers don\u2019t have long to wait for at least some new AI smarts.<\/p>\n There is precedent for Apple selling shiny new iPhones without all of the headline features.<\/p>\n Apple sold the iPhone 7 Plus largely on Portrait mode \u2013 which for the first time offered artificial blurring of backgrounds to simulate the shallow depth of field you can get on a DSLR. The phone went on sale on\u00a0September 15, 2016<\/a>, but Portrait mode wasn\u2019t available until the iOS 10.1 release more than a month later\u00a0on October 24<\/a>.<\/p>\n It was the same story in 2022, the iPhone 14 going on sale\u00a0on September 16<\/a>, but the headline feature of Emergency SOS via Satellite didn\u2019t go live in the US\u00a0until November 15<\/a>, even later in other countries, and is still unavailable in most.<\/p>\nApple Intelligence is rolling out very slowly<\/h2>\n
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With plenty of uncertainty<\/h2>\n
The iPhone 16 will lack most AI features at launch<\/h2>\n
There is precedent for this<\/h2>\n