• A colourful new iPhone 16 lineup has been unveiled at Apple’s glitzy annual product event
• But the real excitement begins when Apple Intelligence is available to download next month; how far will it differentiate Apple in the growing AI-powered smartphone market?
• Cupertino giant says latest iPhones are designed “from the ground up” for Apple Intelligence, underpinned by the new A18 chipset
• Citizens in the European Union are excluded from using Apple Intelligence on iPhones

The star attractions at Apple’s annual blockbuster product event this week, dubbed ‘Glowtime’, were predictably the unveiling of the new iPhone 16 lineup and feature updates for Apple Intelligence, the Cupertino giant’s push on creating highly personalised (and secure) services with generative AI (GenAI).

Not that they were really separate items on the ‘Glowtime’ agenda. The company emphasised time and time again in its voluminous press material accompanying the event that the iPhone 16 was designed “from the ground up” to support Apple Intelligence.

New features of Apple Intelligence, which was formally unveiled earlier this year at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June, include: Writing tools and text generation; a camera that can apparently recognise real-world objects; and a “more natural and flexible” Siri, Apple’s digital assistant.

“For the first time, possibly, ever, the focus is on services for the new iPhone unveiling,” noted Paolo Pescatore, analyst and founder of PP Foresight, in comments emailed to TelecomTV. “This is significant, as it underlines the ongoing battle among consumer providers to differentiate with the race to offer AI.

“Arguably,” he added, “Apple could have waited another year for further development, but initial take up of AI‑powered devices from the likes of Samsung has been encouraging – and Apple is keen to capitalise on this market.” 

Integral to the latest iPhone models being designed with Apple Intelligence in mind from the get-go is Apple’s spanking new A18 chip for iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, which supersedes the A16 Bionic chip used in iPhone 15.

A18’s upgraded 16-core neural engine, claimed Apple, is “optimised for large generative models” and purportedly runs machine learning models up to two times faster than the A16 Bionic chip. Moreover, asserted the company, A18’s 6-core CPU (central processing unit) is 30% faster than the A16 Bionic chip “and faster than all the competition.”

Staggered rollout

The first iPhone 16 models will hit the shelves this month across various countries in North America, Europe and Asia. Apple Intelligence will be available as a free download in Beta next month, accessible also by iPhone 15 devices and the latest iPad and Mac versions, but only in US English.

Later this year, Apple Intelligence will add support for localised English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK, promised the company. Next year, more languages will be added, including Chinese, French, Japanese and Spanish.

“Regardless of whether Apple Intelligence is supported from day one, the new iPhones are future proof with the capabilities to offer AI and more,” noted Pescatore. “Its tightly integrated services offering will help lock users into the Apple ecosystem for longer.”

Europe shutout

As expected, citizens in the European Union will not be able to join the Apple Intelligence iPhone party – at least not yet. Apple had previously expressed fears that it would fall foul of the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) by launching it in the region, and that position has clearly not changed (although, curiously, Apple said those within the EU having the relevant Macs could download Apple Intelligence).

European rules mean any vendor must enable interoperability with rival products and services, but Apple Intelligence, which combines GenAI functionality with a device user’s ‘personal context’, is not designed for such interactions because of what the Cupertino giant claims to be security reasons.

PP Foresight’s Pescatore appeared to applaud Apple’s strategy of not skimping on security, privacy and trust to suit regulators, and to roll out Apple Intelligence gradually, learning lessons along the way. “Apple’s trust and credibility is critical to adoption,” he said. “This alone will help drive sales and lure users from rival devices and platforms.”

He added: “In light of all the consumer concerns and regulatory challenges, a sensible light and phased approach to rolling out Apple Intelligence makes perfect sense. This will help optimise the platform and consumer experience for launch into other countries.”

- Ken Wieland, Contributing Editor, TelecomTV