Apple’s upcoming iOS 18 update heralds a few big and many small changes to Apple’s iPhone lineup. But besides the things Android has had for years, Apple Intelligence is undoubtedly the most important announcement of the bunch. However, there are a few caveats to Apple’s late push into AI that should give us extra pause before jumping on the hype train.
Firstly, you’ll need a top-tier iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max to get Apple’s very best new features in a phone form factor, although that might not be super surprising considering they have the best silicon. Apple is betting heavily on AI to encourage early upgrades, leaving iOS 18 with far less to offer to most of Apple’s current user base. But if you put aside the investor-schmoozing promises and media-friendly AI soundbites, it’s pretty clear that Apple is still miles behind its AI rivals and has a significant gap to close before it gets anywhere close to 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 provide some feature parity with AI-powered Android phones, ChatGPT won’t run on the device, leaving the most advanced AI capabilities tied to a network connection (we’ve all seen what happens when ChatGPT goes down) and becoming more vulnerable to safety problems. Meanwhile, Android is moving to more on-device AI processing thanks to Gemini Nano, which is now available on the very affordable Pixel 8 and Pixel 8a, I might add.
Apple was caught napping on AI, so it’s teaming up with OpenAI to bridge the gap.
This matters because Apple places a heavy emphasis on privacy and its customers pay a premium for this perception compared to competing ecosystems. And while Apple states that personal data is not stored or used to train models, any information sent over the Internet is at greater risk of becoming public than information kept on the device. Would Apple really send data elsewhere if it had a better alternative? On the plus side, Apple doesn’t charge for ChatGPT, but OpenAI customers can link their accounts and presumably 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, just-work type of feature that Apple usually strives for.
The rushed approach can be seen elsewhere. More broadly, Apple Intelligence will only support one language at launch: US English. In contrast, Samsung’s Galaxy AI supports thirteen languages, not including variations. Similarly, Google’s Live Translate supports six interpreting languages and 21 for a text-based chat. The US may be Apple’s biggest market, but a large number of customers in Europe and elsewhere will miss out on a launch tailored to their country. Apple’s tagline “AI for the rest of us” has a fairly narrow geographic definition, and why would consumers worldwide opt for an iPhone 16 if it lacks these flagship features?
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
As if all that isn’t far enough off 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 ready even by the time the iPhone 16 lands in September. Once the inevitable issues are resolved, the rivals will be on a roll with their next-generation AI handsets.
Case in point: the updated Siri is missing from the first developer version of iOS 18. While there’s still plenty of time for it to make an appearance as a developer release, the consumer version could end up being closer to a public beta than a revolutionary launch (Apple even acknowledges this fact on its website). Even worse, some features, like advanced app controls, won’t be available until sometime in 2025. In a rush to catch up and bring out something competitive, Apple is ditching the polish it’s known for.
Samsung’s Galaxy AI was fairly polished at launch. Apple Intelligence is much more like a public beta.
While Apple is busy devising a strategy, Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy owners have been enjoying generative AI features for months. Microsoft is also now heavily chasing a contiguous space with its CoPilot Plus PCs. These experiences will only improve as long as Apple has yet to leave the starting blocks.
Instead of reassuring us all that Apple is about to reach the top, a slow public beta-style rollout, limited language support, and a reliance on third-party tools reveal just how far behind Apple Intelligence really is. While Google, Samsung, et al. I’ll no doubt be keeping an eye on Apple’s latest announcement, but I doubt they’ll lose too much sleep over its slow progress.