Newsflash for most of you upgrading to iOS 18: You're not getting Apple Intelligence.
I visited my parents last week and noticed they have a pair of still-fresh-looking iPhone 14 Pro Max phones. I commented on the handsets, and my parents asked about the new iPhone 16 Pro Max I was carrying. We talked about some of the new features, like the Camera Control ("It's like a real camera!"), and I pressed and held the power button to show them Siri's new look. Later, I showed my father how I could remove some folding chairs from the background of a photo. It was then I realized that both of them thought they were getting Apple Intelligence on their phones.
When I explained that their phone would not get the new Siri, image Clean Up, or various other Apple Intelligence features, they were shocked and, I think, dismayed. This is an awareness problem for Apple and one it must solve ASAP.
For perhaps the first time in Apple’s history, it’s creating a platform-level situation of haves and have-nots.
Not the parity you expect
Most Apple users understand they don't get new iOS features if they don’t upgrade. Still, I can’t recall an instance where people running the same version of iOS will not have the same experience, especially those running still relatively new hardware.
Okay, to be fair, neither one of them (both around 80) fully understood the details of Apple’s take on artificial Intelligence. Even so, I had to explain to them that while their iPhones are still quite new and have excellent cameras and powerful A16 Bionic CPUs, their phones are not designed to support Apple Intelligence.
Now, as the days tick down to the first significant Apple Intelligence release (expected in October), it occurs to me that there are potentially millions of iPhone owners who are eligible to upgrade to iOS 18 but will not get Apple Intelligence because their iPhones are not running at least last year’s A17 Pro CPU.
Apple admirably extends platform updates to iPhones up to seven years old, including Phone XS, iPhone XR, Phone 11, iPhone 12, iPhone 13, iPhone 14, iPhone 15, iPhone 16, and iPhone SE (at least second generation).
The less intelligent
Looking at it that way, arguably a billion iPhones might be getting this upgrade, but only a fraction can run Apple Intelligence. Apple hopes that everyone upgrades just to get access to this Cupertino brand of Apple intelligence.
I don’t see that happening. Not necessarily because people don’t want to upgrade, but if they like their current iPhone and know it can handle the latest iOS 18 update, they might not think they need to. Based on my completely unscientific and non-projectable sample, I surmise that they don’t know the limitations of their current iPhone and, like my parents, will be disappointed when they realize that the major iOS update they just installed provides them with exactly zero Apple Intelligence.
As for my parents, I think they were most upset about not getting a much smarter Siri. This was the one part of Apple Intelligence they fully understood, possibly because my mother is constantly asking Siri questions (and often getting frustrated with the results). She was looking forward to a digital assistant that finally got things right.
It’s that moment when people discover that their updated iPhone, while better because of the myriad changes that come with iOS 18 (new Control Center, Home Screen editing, Passwords app), will be missing the thing Apple is spending millions to promote on TV, billboards and social media.
Apple needs some better messaging and it should happen before Apple Intelligence arrives this month.
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