Apple wants to catch up with the competition with new AI-capable devices. However, “Apple Intelligence” will initially be launched in a much slimmed-down form and will initially be withheld from the majority of users.
As expected, the technology company Apple has presented new devices that will run its own new artificial intelligence, “Apple Intelligence”. However, the new functions will initially only benefit a fraction of users. When and in what form the services will be available in Germany is not yet known.
In the future, Apple AI will be powered by the new “A18” chips that will be installed in the new iPhones of the 16 series. Of the earlier models, only the one-year-old iPhones 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max are powerful enough for “Apple Intelligence”. Laptops in tablets of the newer generations will also be able to use the new system, which was announced in June. The basis is the latest Apple operating systems iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia.
Voice assistant Siri to be improved by AI
The AI functions are intended to summarize emails and text messages in a few words in the preview, suggest rephrasing and create individual emoji symbols from text templates. Searching in the photo library is to be improved as the software will analyze the content of the images and work with text commands. When editing images, the AI is intended to help, among other things, to remove distracting objects in images.
The existing voice assistant Siri is also intended to become more intelligent and flexible, by answering complex questions or further processing data shown on the display.
Apple does not want to open its own system to competitors
According to the company, “Apple Intelligence” will initially only be available in US English. Versions for other English-speaking countries will follow in December. From 2025, the offering will be expanded to include languages such as Chinese, French and Spanish. It was not specifically stated when additional generative AI functions will be available on the devices. In the European Union (EU), however, the introduction of some functions is being delayed due to uncertainties regarding compatibility with EU laws.
The EU law for digital markets, the Digital Markets Act (DMA), sets out rules for large platforms. Apple is particularly concerned that the requirements to open up to other manufacturers and service providers could compromise the protection of user data. The company first wants assurances that it can offer the advanced functions exclusively.
AI works primarily on the device – not on servers
The new functions are designed to run on the devices themselves, i.e. “on-device”, using the new chips and not necessarily rely on computing capacity in the cloud. If that is not possible, Apple promises that connections to its own data centers will be kept to a minimum and that no personal data will be stored there.
For some tasks, Siri will also use the ChatGPT language model from Microsoft partner OpenAI. User data will not be stored by OpenAI and IP addresses will be made unrecognizable.
Stock markets react to Apple’s announcement
The iPhone is by far Apple’s most important product. In the first nine months of the current financial year, it generated a good half of the company’s sales. “Current iPhone users who have owned their device for three to four years will certainly be tempted to buy a new device, even if some functions will not be released until later,” said analyst Nabila Popal from the research house International Data Corp. This means users are prepared for the future.
The announcement apparently did not convince investors, and doubts about an imminent sales surge remained. Apple shares fell by a good one percent in premarket trading on Wall Street. Apple CEO Tim Cook, on the other hand, spoke of a “new era” and said: “The new generation of iPhone was developed from the ground up for ‘Apple Intelligence’.”
Competitors have already submitted
In terms of units sold, Apple is number two in the smartphone market behind Samsung. Samsung and Google, as developers of the competing Android operating system, are also relying on artificial intelligence. Both competitors had already introduced devices with AI functions during the course of the year, putting Apple under pressure. The new iPhones will go on sale at the end of September.
Apple’s biggest competitor in China, Huawei, presented a new device that same evening. The display of the Huawei Mate XT can be folded twice, so that the device can be as big as a tablet. However, the Chinese company is suffering from US sanctions that prevent access to services from Western providers. Without pre-installed Android versions and Google services such as an app store, Huawei’s smartphone division has plummeted into international insignificance. Huawei now uses its own operating system for its smartphones.
With information from Antje Sieb, ARD Los Angeles.