Expectations are that the iPhone 16 will launch soon. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the new phones are set to be launched in September. However, these phones won’t come with the major feature that Apple has been heavily promoting: Apple Intelligence. This new AI technology will only be available few weeks later through a software update.
This means that the first batch of iPhone 16 models sold will not have the new AI features right away. Instead, users will need to wait for the update to enjoy these new capabilities. Apple Intelligence includes several features such as smart notification prioritization, web page and voice note summaries, tools for better writing, a revamped Siri, and integration with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Gurman has tried out some of these features on the iOS 18.1 beta and thinks that they still have a lot of room for improvement. For instance, in the Messages app, there will be suggested replies, which are just slightly better than the old reply suggestions. The Mail app will also have similar suggestions, but they will be longer.
One interesting feature is the Reduce Interruptions Focus mode. This is like a Do Not Disturb Mode but smarter. It decides which notifications are important enough to let through, like urgent messages and emails. When Reader Mode is turned on in the Safari browser, it summarizes web pages and articles into one paragraph.
There are also new Writing Tools that can make your text sound more professional or friendly and can help with proofreading. Another handy feature is that Apple Intelligence can record and transcribe phone calls automatically, and you’ll get the full transcription after the call ends.
Gurman sees all these as fancy features and not actual necessities. He thinks they might not be enough to convince someone with an iPhone 14 Pro to switch to an iPhone 16. However, he also believes that the excitement and marketing slogans will drive many people to buy the new iPhone 16.
Apple’s new AI features are meant to compete with similar products like Google Gemini, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Microsoft’s Copilot. But for Apple to become a leader in the AI space, it will need to do more.
It is expected that all iPhone 16 models, and even the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, will eventually get Apple Intelligence. So, while the new iPhone 16 gets to launch without the much-talked-about Apple Intelligence, users can look forward to receiving these features through a software update about a month later.
