iPhone 16 is Apple’s first AI phone, but it won’t have Apple Intelligence at launch

We’re a few hours away from the big Apple event of the year. Apple will unveil the iPhone 16 series on Monday, with Apple Intelligence expected to be the main selling point for the four handsets.

However, users who can’t wait to preorder the iPhone 16 flavor of their dreams this week to use Apple Intelligence features as fast as possible will have to wait. Apple Intelligence won’t be ready until iOS 18 gets to the iOS 18.1 update in October. Even then, it won’t be the full suite of Apple Intelligence apps and features that Apple unveiled at WWDC.

A last-minute report on the iPhone 16 launch event says Apple has further delayed some Apple Intelligence features. You’ll have to wait until iOS 18.2 in December to get some of them. Then there’s the EU and China, where Apple is yet to announce launch plans for Apple Intelligence.

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Apple will surely deliver all the AI features it unveiled in June. Buying the iPhone 16 will be worth it; I have no doubt about it. I say that as a European who will wait even longer for Apple Intelligence to arrive than everyone else.

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At the same time, I have to applaud Google’s brilliant Pixel 9 launch event . Google unveiled the Pixel 9 phones two months earlier than expected to show the world it had plenty of AI features ready for the Pixel 9 ready in August, more than a month before the iPhone 16 launch event. That’s probably over two months before Apple Intelligence comes to the iPhone.

Apple’s staggered rollout of AI made Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman conclude that the iPhone 16 won’t deliver the iPhone supercycle some people might expect. Apple Intelligence won’t be big enough to convince many buyers to get a handset that can run Apple’s AI.

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You will need new hardware to run Apple Intelligence unless you own one of last year’s Pro models. Apple Intelligence is available in beta on the iPhone 15 Pros if you install iOS 18.1. But it’s a limited experience.

iOS 18.1 will launch at some point in October with these features:

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• summarization for notification and web content
• writing tools
• photo editing features (remove people and objects from images)
• automated phone transcriptions of phone calls
• prioritization of important emails in Apple Mail

iOS 18.2 will roll out in December, bringing image-generation features to the iPhone 15 Pros and iPhone 16 models via the Image Playground app and Genmoji in the Messages app.

ChatGPT support will also roll out later this year, with iOS 18.2 being the likely iOS 18 version to enable it. The smart Siri that Apple demoed at WWDC will be available only next year.

Gurman said in his report that Apple should be in a stronger position by fall 2025. Apple Intelligence should be “flashed out and available in more of the world” by then. Add the new iPhone 17 Air design for one of next year’s iPhones, and you might end up with a super cycle event.

That said, I’ll be shopping for an iPhone 16 in a few days. Aside from AI, there are plenty of reasons to upgrade to the iPhone 16. Hopefully the EU will get Apple Intelligence sooner than later, even if we have to go through the whole staggered rollout dance.

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