Apple Inc. began selling its AI-infused iPhone 16 line on Friday, but what consumers get may not match all the hype and hoopla from the product’s launch earlier this month.
To recap, Apple Intelligence is the headline feature of the four iPhone models, followed by new A18 chips, iOS 18, a new camera button, more powerful battery, incremental app updates, and more color choices.
Yet Apple Intelligence’s many bells and whistles are expected to be delivered over several months, with no real timeline, based on what was demonstrated at WWDC 2024 in June.
According to recent reports, including one in Bloomberg, Siri’s on-screen awareness won’t be available until iOS 18.4, probably in March 2025. Other features, such as Genmoji and Image Playground are tied to the release of iOS 18.2, due by late 2024.
“Earlier this summer, at their annual developer pow-wow, Apple unveiled their suite of artificial intelligence tools for the iPhone dubbed Apple Intelligence. On Sept. 9, when they unveiled the new iPhone 16 series, they once again highlighted the power and potential of Apple Intelligence,” Jason Cockerham, who worked at Apple several years as a technical specialist and store trainer, said in an email. “However, when the new family of iPhones launched on Sept. 20, they came with exactly zero of these promised groundbreaking features. Apple only promised that the first of these features would arrive for the newest iPhones in October as a limited beta with the rest of the features to follow before the end of the year.”
For now, AI’s writing tools will be initially available, Will True, an iPhone senior product manager, said in an interview.
The new iPhone lineup, powered by the A18 and A18 Pro chips that are 15% to 40% faster than iPhone 17 models to accommodate the demands of generative-AI, delivers an energy-efficient option that is heavy on privacy protections, the company said. The phone comes with writing tools deeply integrated into the iOS to polish correspondence, create new emojis through texts and pinpoint photos with just a few type-written words. Siri gets a fresh update as well.
The iPhone 16 ($799), iPhone 16 Plus ($899), iPhone 16 Pro ($999), and iPhone 16 Pro Max ($1,199) come with a camera control button on their sides that doubles as a visual intelligence feature to find out more about new surroundings, such as a new restaurant or breed of dog by simply pointing the camera at the object. Each model includes battery boosts.
Meanwhile, a new version of macOS 15, also known as macOS Sequoia, released Monday, is causing headaches for some Mac users. According to multiple outlets, including TechCrunch, users are coping with cybersecurity software issues and compatibility with Apple’s new operating system.
The glitches were resolved when users turned off cybersecurity tools from Microsoft Corp., CrowdStrike Holdings Inc., SentinelOne Inc. and ESET, according to reports.
CrowdStrike told TechCrunch it is waiting for a macOS Sequoia update. And ESET warned users of its MacOS product version 6 that network connections could be lost if those users update to Sequoia.
Additionally, BleedingComputer, citing online posts, reported some Mac users are encountering problems using virtual private networks on macOS Sequoia. Apple reportedly removed a feature in the macOS firewall to fix the problem.
