Apple’s upcoming iOS 18 update heralds several big and many smaller changes for Apple’s iPhone lineup. But aside from the things Android has had for years, Apple Intelligence is undoubtedly the key announcement of the lineup. However, there are a few caveats to Apple’s belated AI push that should give us further pause before jumping on the bandwagon.
First, you’ll need a top-of-the-line iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max to take advantage of the best of Apple’s new phone-shaped features, though that’s perhaps not too surprising since they have the best silicon. Apple is betting heavily on AI to support timely upgrades, leaving iOS 18 with much less to offer most of Apple’s current user base. But peel back the investor hype and media-friendly AI hype, and it’s abundantly clear that Apple is still miles behind its AI rivals and has a significant gap to close before it can approach parity with the market leaders.
For starters, Apple relies on OpenAI’s ChatGPT for text composition, other generative tasks, and even broader assistant-style requests that Siri can’t handle. While this will bring some feature parity with AI-powered Android phones, ChatGPT won’t run on the device, leaving its most advanced AI capabilities tied to a network connection (we’ve all seen what happens when ChatGPT goes down) and more vulnerable. to security concerns. Meanwhile, Android is moving towards more on-device AI processing thanks to Gemini Nano, now available on the very affordable Pixel 8 and Pixel 8a, I might add.
Apple has been caught napping on AI, so it’s working with OpenAI to bridge the gap.
This is important because Apple places a high value on privacy, and its customers pay a premium for this perception compared to competing ecosystems. And while Apple says that personal data is not stored or used to train models, any information sent over the Internet is at greater risk of being exposed than that stored on the device. Would Apple really send data elsewhere if it had a better alternative? On the plus side, Apple won’t charge for ChatGPT, but OpenAI customers can link their accounts and likely gain access to better models and/or more advanced features. We’ll have to wait and see, but this leap into AI doesn’t look like the cohesive and workable feature that Apple usually aspires to.
The hasty approach can be seen elsewhere. Apple Intelligence, more generally, will only support one language at launch – US English. In contrast, Samsung Galaxy AI supports thirteen languages, including variations. Similarly, Google’s Live Translate service supports six interpreter languages ​​and 21 languages ​​for text chat. The US may be Apple’s biggest market, but many customers in Europe and elsewhere will miss out on a launch tailored to their location. Apple’s slogan “AI for the rest of us” has a pretty narrow geographic definition, and why should global consumers reach for the iPhone 16 when it lacks these flagship features?
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
If all of that wasn’t far enough from the current pace, ChatGPT integration and the rest of Apple Intelligence won’t arrive until iOS 18 launches in the fall. All Apple has done so far is tease its AI features, but Apple Intelligence won’t be fully cooked by the time the iPhone 16 lands in September. Once the inevitable bugs are ironed out, rivals will be able to exploit their next-generation AI phones.
Case in point, the updated Siri is missing from the first developer build of iOS 18. While there’s still plenty of time for her to appear as a developer, the consumer release could end up closer to a public beta than a groundbreaking launch (even Apple is taking this fact awareness on their website). Worse, some features like Advanced App Controls won’t be available until sometime in 2025. In Apple’s rush to catch up and launch something remotely competitive, Apple is shedding the polish it’s become known for.
The artificial intelligence of the Samsung Galaxy was quite polished when it was launched. Apple Intelligence looks a lot more like a public beta.
While Apple has been busy coming up with a strategy, Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy owners have been enjoying the generative AI features for many months. Microsoft is also now intensively monitoring the neighboring space with its CoPilot Plus computers. These experiences will only get better while Apple has yet to leave the starting blocks.
The slow rollout of the public beta, limited language support, and reliance on third-party tools are far from reassuring us all that Apple is about to rocket to the top, but it does reveal just how far behind Apple Intelligence it really is. While Google, Samsung et al. will no doubt be watching Apple’s latest announcement, I doubt he’ll be losing too much sleep over its slow pace of progress.