Apple Loop: iPhone 16 Pro Software Revealed, Tim Cook’s AI Concerns, Apple Blocks PC Emulation,

Looking back at the news and headlines from Apple and WWDC this week, including Apple’s AI scare, iPhone owners missing out on AI, Apple’s Private Cloud, a new gaming mode for iPhone, the iPad’s biggest change, and Apple blocking PC emulation.

Apple Loop is here to remind you of some of the many discussions surrounding Apple over the past seven days. You can also read my weekly roundup of Android news here on Forbes.

Apple CEO Tim Cook (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)

AFP via Getty Images

iPhone and iOS updates from WWDC

Tim Cook’s team took the initiative this week during the annual Worldwide Developer Conference, which focuses on AI. There were also the new versions of the operating systems that Apple will release to the public in September. Until then, beta testing and developer releases will reveal the software that will power Apple’s iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro handsets, including new accessibility tools:

“Eye Tracking allows people to control iPhone with just their eyes.19 Music Haptics syncs the iPhone Taptic Engine to the rhythm of songs, so people who are deaf or hard of hearing can enjoy the Apple Music catalog.20 And Vocal Shortcuts helps people with severe atypical speech record sounds that trigger specific actions on the iPhone.”

(Apple).

The Achilles heel of Apple Intelligence

The key point, of course, was that Apple introduced artificial intelligence (or, as the branding team has dubbed it, Apple Intelligence) into its various operating systems. Although Tim Cook believes it will benefit users by saving them time, Cook admitted in an interview with the Washington Post that Apple was concerned about AI:

“It’s not 100 percent. But I think we’ve done everything we can do, including thinking very deeply about the readiness of the technology in the areas where we use it. So I’m confident that this will be of very high quality will be.” But I would say in all honesty that this is less than 100 percent. I would never claim it is 100 percent.

(Washington Post)

Limited intelligence for iPhone owners

Apple’s artificial intelligence software has two core requirements to run on the iPhone. The first is iOS 18, which will be available in late Q3 and will run on iPhones up to the 2018 iPhone XR. It also requires at least the latest A17 Pro chipset. That rules out every current iPhone except the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max:

“Apple said this limitation is the result of the massive amounts of computing power required to run the artificial intelligence models that support the new features. “The fundamental models behind these experiences require an enormous amount of computing power,” the senior vice president said. Apple’s president of machine learning and AI strategy, John Giannandrea: “It’s the amount of computing they need that actually provides this limitation.”

(The Independent).

More AI support for iPad and MacBook

There is less confusion and limitations surrounding Apple’s artificial intelligence software on the iPad and Mac platforms. Essentially, any hardware running any of the Apple Silicon Mxx series will have access to the features, including various iPad Air and iPad Pro models and every Mac dating back to the 2020 MacBook Air:

As for the MacBook Air, it received the M1 chip in 2020. The M1 MacBook Air (2020), M2 MacBook Air (2022), M2 MacBook Air (2023) and M3 MacBook Air (2024) all get the Apple Intelligence goodies on display.

“With the MacBook Pro laptops, they also received the M1 upgrade in 2020: the 13-inch Touch Bar M1 MacBook Pro (2020) and M2 MacBook Pro (2022) are eligible, just like the 14-inch and 16-inch sizes of the M1 MacBook Pro (2021), M2 MacBook Pro (2023) and M3 MacBook Pro (2023).”

(TechRadar).

Apple’s AI server

Of all the brilliant AI tools, emoji creation and text generation were perhaps the biggest announcement at WWDC from the team behind Private Cloud Compute. This is Apple’s solution for processing user data in the cloud, balancing the need for information processing outside the device and keeping that information private. The devil is in the details… and the code:

“But you don’t have to trust Apple alone on this point,” Federighi claimed. That’s because the server code used by Private Cloud Compute will be publicly accessible, meaning that “independent experts can inspect the code running on these servers to verify this.” privacy promise.” The entire system is set up cryptographically, so that Apple devices “will refuse to talk to a server unless its software is publicly logged for inspection.”

(Ars Technica).

A new iPhone way to game

Apple continues to promote iOS as a gaming platform, and while its catalog of leading titles is only a fraction of other platforms, Tim Cook and his team continue to build the platform in the hopes that they will get there. Debuting in iOS 18 will be Game Mode… when your phone recognizes that a demanding game is running, it will activate Game Mode and do the following:

“Minimize your iPhone’s background activity so it can maintain consistently high frame rates even after hours of play; vastly reduce latency when using a Bluetooth game controller; similarly, reduce latency when using AirPods for audio.”

(9to5Mac).

The iPad’s biggest change

It has only taken fourteen years, but the iPad software package is finally complete. After the release of Weather in 2022, WWDC saw an update to iPadOS with a calculator. Did it really take this long to add stylus support?

At first glance, the app looks a lot like the calculator you might know from iOS. But it also supports Apple Pencil, which means you can write down math problems and the app will solve them thanks to a feature Apple calls Math Notes.

(The edge).

And finally…

While emulating a retro gaming system is now allowed in Apple’s App Store (and subsequent installation on your iPhone), emulating a retro PC system is still blocked. While developers of the Open Source app UTM won’t challenge the ruling (partly due to Apple’s refusal to allow JIT on iOS), many will be drawn to something more subtle… Apple has also blocked the app from appearing in any app -third party stores:

The open source app was submitted to the store, given the recent rule change allowing retro gaming console emulators, such as Delta or Folium. App Review rejected UTM and decided that a “PC is not a console.” What’s even more surprising is the fact that UTM says Apple is also blocking the app from being listed on third-party app stores in the EU.”