After nearly two years of waiting, Apple has finally jumped into the generative artificial intelligence (AI) field, with the big news announced by the company’s CEO Tim Cook at the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC). Kicking off the keynote event, Cook announced, “I’m excited that we’ll be introducing deep new intelligence capabilities that we hope will inspire developers, delight users and make our platforms even smarter and more useful than ever.”
However, details provided later by Apple during the keynote and on its website qualified the magnitude of this technological leap, which will only be available to current iPhone users who have one of the two most powerful models – the 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max – and by 2024 it will be limited to users who speak and write American English.
The new Apple Intelligence system and the expected major overhaul of Siri – which will come in the fall and enter the testing phase with the new iOS 18 operating system – will sideline more than 90% of current iPhone users if they do not buy a new one. smartphone. In the absence of official data from Apple, estimates indicate that there are around 1.5 billion active iPhone users worldwide, and several analysts estimate that iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max – the world’s best-selling phones – could number nearly 100 million units . This means that Apple Intelligence wouldn’t even reach 7% of Apple’s total mobile phone users. Additionally, users outside the US are also excluded from that percentage for the time being.
Only the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max – of the 24 models compatible with the new iOS 18 – can use Apple Intelligence. This system includes functions already offered by other technological giants, such as summarizing documents, notes, audio and phone conversations, suggesting replies to messages, reviewing texts and correcting style and tone, but also new ones, such as create new emojis and images. from scratch with a few simple directions. The other iPhones will also not have access to the updated Siri digital assistant, which will be able to understand requests much better, keep the thread of a conversation with the user and ask ChatGPT to resolve any questions it cannot answer.
In addition to phones, Apple Intelligence and the new Siri will also be available on tablets and computers with Apple processors – the M1 or higher. In the case of iPads, this benefits five of the fifteen models compatible with the iPadOS 18 operating system; and 13 of 18 computer models compatible with macOS 15 Sequoia. Apple started selling Macs with Apple processors in 2020, iPads Pro in 2021, and iPads Air in 2022. All iPad minis and iPad models without these processors will not have the new smart features.
Apple’s jump into generative AI will also not affect its Vision Pro mixed reality glasses, despite the fact that it is one of the company’s most modern and advanced devices and is equipped with an M2 processor, with more than sufficient capacity.
Promising features, but not in the short term
There was also a long wait for the renewal of Siri on Apple Watches – where the digital assistant works worse than on iPhones – and on HomePods – which are only voice controlled with ‘Hey, Siri’. Nevertheless, the new Siri will not be coming to smartwatches, smart speakers or the Apple TV video player for the time being.
Apple has not provided any information about whether current models of the various platforms that remain outside the new AI system will be able to access some of its features in the future, either through the processor or by accessing the same private cloud computing network. This network – launched on June 10 – will be used to solve the most advanced generative AI requests. There are also no details on when these features will be available in other languages, such as Spanish. The tech giant only states that Apple Intelligence “will be available in beta this fall as part of iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia in US English. Some features, software platforms and additional languages will become available over the course of next year.”
The fact that the updated Siri won’t be available on smartwatches or smart speakers has disappointed tech analysts. Before the keynote, former Macworld editor Jason Snell, posted on SixColors: “When I’m running or walking my dog, I usually just use AirPods and my Apple Watch. Theoretically, Siri is under my coverage, but I generally avoid talking to it because it’s unreliable.”
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who received a detailed leak of all the keynote announcements days in advance, predicted that Apple’s AI would have the advantage of being available on all Apple devices. Now he’s warning that it will take years for the company’s AI efforts to bear fruit and be complete, arguing that the new features are “unlikely to contribute much to iPhone sales growth this years.”
Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition