AI features for the iPhone: Apple Intelligence has continued to hold back

It has been known for some time that the AI ​​functions for iPhone, iPad and Mac are being delayed indefinitely within the EU and China. But the introduction of Apple Intelligence is also taking longer in the rest of the world. Not only will the AI ​​only start with iOS 18.1 in October, but AI images are also being delayed.

Apple Intelligence (topic) was announced by Apple in June at WWDC 2024 and promised for iOS 18. But it was already clear then that not all functions would be available for the release in September. Over the last few weeks, Apple Intelligence was only announced for iOS 18.1 via an early beta. This means that hardly any AI functions will be available when the iPhone 16 (Pro) with iOS 18.0 is launched.

But even though Apple Intelligence officially launches in October with iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1, many features will still be missing. The current beta shows that some of the features already work reliably, but in many places Apple is not yet delivering what was promised.

How Bloomberg Meanwhile, the introduction of generative AI for generating images and thus the functions for Genmoji and the generation of AI images in numerous apps has also been delayed. These were originally also supposed to be introduced with iOS 18.1, but have now been postponed until the release of iOS 18.2 in December.

Official Apple Intelligence Roadmap

If you aggregate all the rumors about the availability of Apple Intelligence, a sobering picture emerges, which will probably only create a purchasing incentive through Apple Intelligence when the iPhone 17 is introduced, as Gurman from Bloomberg in the current Power-On newsletter.

All I’m saying is, don’t believe the hype about a supercycle for the iPhone 16. But you can start believing in one for the iPhone 17 next year.

Gurman in the Power-On newsletter of September 8th

EU and China left out

This list does not apply to the whole world anyway, because firstly, it is still unclear when additional languages ​​will be enabled for Apple Intelligence, because at launch with iOS 18.1 only US English will be supported. Secondly, Apple Intelligence is not available within the EU and China for the time being.

In the EU, because Apple needs more time to implement EU laws such as the DMA, which prevent the company from exploiting its market power. And in China, Apple also has to overcome a number of hurdles: such as getting its own AI models approved by the state and finding an alternative to ChatGPT, because it is prohibited there. In both jurisdictions, Apple is currently still waiting for a time frame for the release of Apple Intelligence.

Competition moving forward

The competition is taking advantage of these delays and slow production of Apple Intelligence and is pushing ahead with numerous AI functions in smartwatches and smartphones. Be it the new Google Pixel 9 Pro (test), the Pixel Watch 3 or the new Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 (test) – the competition is not sleeping and is bringing new functions to market much faster than the iPhone company.