iPhone 16 is Apple’s first AI phone, but it won’t have Apple Intelligence at launch

We’re a few hours away from the big Apple event of the year. Apple will unveil the iPhone 16 series on Monday, with Apple Intelligence expected to be the main selling point for the four handsets.

However, users who can’t wait to preorder the iPhone 16 flavor of their dreams this week to use Apple Intelligence features as fast as possible will have to wait. Apple Intelligence won’t be ready until iOS 18 gets to the iOS 18.1 update in October. Even then, it won’t be the full suite of Apple Intelligence apps and features that Apple unveiled at WWDC.

A last-minute report on the iPhone 16 launch event says Apple has further delayed some Apple Intelligence features. You’ll have to wait until iOS 18.2 in December to get some of them. Then there’s the EU and China, where Apple is yet to announce launch plans for Apple Intelligence.

Apple will surely deliver all the AI features it unveiled in June. Buying the iPhone 16 will be worth it; I have no doubt about it. I say that as a European who will wait even longer for Apple Intelligence to arrive than everyone else.

At the same time, I have to applaud Google’s brilliant Pixel 9 launch event. Google unveiled the Pixel 9 phones two months earlier than expected to show the world it had plenty of AI features ready for the Pixel 9 ready in August, more than a month before the iPhone 16 launch event. That’s probably over two months before Apple Intelligence comes to the iPhone.

Apple’s staggered rollout of AI made Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman conclude that the iPhone 16 won’t deliver the iPhone supercycle some people might expect. Apple Intelligence won’t be big enough to convince many buyers to get a handset that can run Apple’s AI.

You will need new hardware to run Apple Intelligence unless you own one of last year’s Pro models. Apple Intelligence is available in beta on the iPhone 15 Pros if you install iOS 18.1. But it’s a limited experience.

[ For more curated tech news, check out the main news page here]

The post iPhone 16 is Apple’s first AI phone, but it won’t have Apple Intelligence at launch first appeared on bgr.com