The Apple Intelligence release date is quickly approaching, making it an exciting time to own one of the best iPhones.
AI tools are one of the main selling points of the new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro, bringing features like review and rewrite, summaries, and AI photo editing to iOS 18. However, that's not Everything: The imminent release of iOS 18.1 and the arrival of AI on iPhone is just the beginning, with more Apple Intelligence features to be released over the next year.
So when is the Apple Intelligence release date? And is it really a big problem? Or will consumers forget it exists in just a few months?
Apple Intelligence Release Date
Apple Intelligence is currently in testing through the iOS 18.1 public beta. This means we can expect writing tools, cleaning, and notification summaries, to name just a few features, to arrive in October with the official release of iOS 18.1. We've covered all the features of Apple Intelligence and when you can expect to use them, already in depth, but here's a quick summary of the expected release schedule:
Apple has confirmed that Apple Intelligence will arrive in October with iOS 18.1. Later this year, according to Agency's Mark Gurman, Genmoji and Image Playground will arrive in iOS 18.2, expected in December. After those major updates, iOS 18.3 is expected around January and could add some of the Siri features powered by Apple Intelligence. Finally, a full revamp of Siri Apple Intelligence is expected in March next year as part of iOS 18.4, closing out the first year of Apple Intelligence features just in time for iOS 19 and WWDC 2025.
Based on these rumors and Apple's own confirmation that Apple Intelligence will launch this month, we expect iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 to arrive in the coming weeks.
Why is it so important
The launch of Apple Intelligence is a big deal in terms of the future of easy-to-access AI, and Apple's entry into the AI space could play a pivotal role in the future of the technology. Let's step back from AI powerhouses like OpenAI for a second; Your parents will probably get their first taste of AI in Apple Intelligence, as will many average consumers. That means Apple's foray into AI and its attempt to become “AI for the rest of us” is a much bigger deal than the new AI features themselves.
iPhone users make up the majority of the US smartphone market, and Apple has built a successful business on the promise that its technology works right out of the box. With the arrival of Apple Intelligence, we will have a good idea of whether AI is ready to become a key element of our daily lives or if, in its current form, it is simply a good thing that we forget about. approximately over time. Does Apple Intelligence become a key element of the iPhone experience, like FaceID, or does it become the next example of Apple ideas that don't live up to their promise, like the discontinued Touch Bar?
Every smartphone with AI features today, whether it's the Google Pixel 9 or the Samsung S24 Ultra, has what feels like a reworking of the same tools: typing, summarizing, photo editing, and a better voice assistant. Can Apple's attempt surpass these Android offerings and offer something different? And if so, do people even care?
As someone who writes about AI every day, I'm intrigued to see how the average consumer interacts with the idea of chatbots and AI-powered features built into operating systems. Apple's vision for its version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence, with personal context and on-screen insight, is the addition of AI to iOS that I'm most excited about, but if the voice assistant turns out not to be as impressive as WWDC 2024 Apple suggested the demonstration could quickly come to be seen as a high-profile failure.
There is a lot to look forward to in the world of AI; and Apple Intelligence, while perhaps not the most impressive use case we've seen for artificial intelligence, will be a game-changer for the technology. As for which direction, though, your guess is as good as mine: Will Apple Intelligence catapult consumer AI into the mainstream? Or could it become another Apple Vision Pro, niche and better executed by others?