Apple Intelligence rollout timetable won't delay iPhone 16

Although the much-touted Apple Intelligence features will only begin showing up weeks after the initial release of iOS 18, Apple reportedly has no plans to delay releasing its annual update of the iPhone 16.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman notes that the first of the Apple Intelligence features only appeared in the first developer beta of iOS 18.1, rather than being included in the original betas. The company, in its original presentation on iOS 18, separated the base features most models of iPhone would get from the Apple Intelligence features, the latter of which only work with the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max at present.

It's expected that all models of the iPhone 16 will be able to take advantage of at least some features of Apple Intelligence when it arrives, but Apple has been cagey about when users can expect the full rollout to be complete.

Likewise, Apple Intelligence features will not appear in the initial releases of iPadOS 18 or macOS Sequoia, but will start shipping in the first major update to those releases.

Gurman, in his Power On newsletter, noted that Apple did once delay the release of an iPhone until October — for the iPhone 4S, 13 years ago — because major iCloud and Siri features weren't ready. This time, however, the iPhone 16 lineup is expected to launch in mid-September, as usual.

AppleInsider has published a hands-on with the first iOS 18.1 beta, which includes some of the new writing tools, summarization features, recording and transcription options, and the first effort at improving the Siri experience. Other features, such as the touted Genmoji and ChatGPT integration are expected to arrive in later betas.

The full suite of Apple Intelligence features are expected to be rolled out across the remainder of 2024. There is some speculation that some features may not be complete until early 2025.