The iPhone is now an AI machine and the Airpods a hearing aid

When developing its devices, Apple is relying on artificial intelligence, even faster computing chips than before, less battery consumption and applications related to health topics. This was evident at the presentation of the new generation of devices, the iPhone 16, Apple Watch 10 and the new Airpod headphones. We present the most important innovations.

The most surprising thing is that the Airpod Pro 2 mini headphones, which cost 279 euros in Germany, are now also to be marketed as a hearing aid, which could save customers hundreds of euros compared to old hearing aids. Apple explained that the US health authority FDA and other authorities are already testing the hearing aid function, and that the device will then be available over the counter to help people with “mild to moderately impaired hearing” and will be approved in around 100 countries, including Germany.

In Germany, it will be an interesting question whether health insurance companies will provide subsidies. The existing providers are currently doing great business with hearing aids in more and more branches.

The basis of Apple’s offer is, of course, that the company has equipped the Airpods with excellent computer technology in a very small space, among other things for dampening disturbing noises, and now for the targeted filtering out of spoken information from a background noise. The Airpods Pro examine the user’s hearing with a digital hearing test based on tens of thousands of customer profiles. Based on the personal profile, sounds will then be amplified in real time and transmitted to the ear.

As announced in the spring, the new iPhone generation is heavily geared towards the use of artificial intelligence, called Apple Intelligence. The revised operating system iOS 18, which can be downloaded from September 16, is the center of this AI strategy. Of the old devices, however, only the iPhone 15 Pro is powerful enough for Apple Intelligence. The new devices have significantly more powerful computing chips to enable the new functions, although the battery life should not decrease.

Apple’s AI offers summaries of emails as a preview and sorts notifications by importance. Photo files can be searched much more precisely; it is apparently enough to describe an event in a few words and possible motifs are then shown. Disturbing parts of a photo can be deleted more easily. The device can write entire letters from a few notes. If a friend tells you about a piece of music in a message, you can call it up and listen to it directly.

The new version of the Siri voice assistant, which was first launched in 2011, is designed to be able to use and understand significantly more information than before. Siri is designed to access the user’s personal emails, saved messages and other data. This will make scheduling appointments much easier.

However, users in the EU cannot yet access many of the AI ​​functions. One reason Apple is holding them back is because the strong isolation of the Apple system may contradict the EU’s competition regulations. The fact is that Apple is making a special effort when it comes to data protection, but also in trying to contain users in a system that is much less open than the Android operating system (from Google). In addition, the company is not quite as far along in the development of Apple Intelligence as hoped: Many functions will not be available in English until autumn, Chinese, French and Spanish will not be available until next year, and there is no date yet for German.

While the new iPhone series looks similar to its predecessors, apart from the different arrangement of the cameras, a new user interface on the edge of the device is noticeable. Users can adjust the zoom with a swipe of the finger on the small field, they can also change the color filter and of course they can also press the shutter button with a finger. The button idea is not entirely new; Sony has equipped some of its cell phones with such shutter buttons.

The functions are supported by AI; users can also take a photo of a concert poster, a restaurant or a bicycle model nearby to receive further information about it via AI.

In terms of pure technology, some of the devices will be further upgraded, such as with a new ultra-wide-angle camera, in order to be able to keep up with the competition.

The US company has been marketing the Apple Watch digital watch for some time as a tool for measuring things like blood oxygen saturation, heart rate and sleep duration. The Apple Watch Series 10 now uses a motion sensor to register breathing disorders during sleep, and the data can be collected and brought to the doctor. Apple estimates that around a billion people could benefit from these diagnoses. No watch sells more globally than the Apple Watch, which has more than 100 million users to date. The new function will also be available in the Series 9 and Ultra 2 via a software update.

It is noticeable that during the presentation of the new devices, Apple promoted the trade-in of old hardware. Since the new iPhones in Germany only cost from 949 euros for the iPhone 16 with 128 GB and from 1499 euros for the simplest top device, the iPhone 16 Plus Max, this information is probably necessary to fuel the desire to buy. Industry expert Carolina Milanesi from the analysis firm Creative Strategies was convinced that the company’s aim is to get as many users as possible to switch to new iPhones that are ready for Apple Intelligence.