Apple will launch the iPhone 16 series within its traditional September timeframe this year, despite Apple Intelligence set to be absent in the first public release of iOS 18.
Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman says his sources tell him that the iPhone launch will occur around the same time as last year, with Tuesday, September 10 suggested as a possible launch day candidate.
Apple will ship the new iPhone lineup with its latest iOS 18 operating system, but users will not get Apple’s initial set of AI features, collectively dubbed Apple Intelligence, until the release of iOS 18.1 a few weeks later in October.
Apple and its investors are counting on Apple Intelligence to be a major draw that will attract new and upgrading iPhone customers, particularly since only the Pro models in the current iPhone 15 lineup are capable of powering the new features. But the company is not about to delay the launch of the iPhone 16 series just to coincide with the availability of Apple Intelligence.
Gurman notes that ahead of the 2011 launch of the iPhone, Apple did choose to postpone the device’s release from its then-usual June timing to October, in order to align it with the availability of iCloud and Siri, which were new online services at the time. This year, however, Gurman does not see the delayed arrival of Apple Intelligence as being a big enough issue to change Apple’s hardware launch plans, especially given that the tools that will be rolled out first aren’t particularly game-chaining on their own.
Apple Intelligence features in the iOS 18.1 beta include Writing Tools for proofreading, rewriting, and summarizing text, a new Siri interface with Type to Siri, Mail and Messages app improvements like summarizing emails and Smart Reply, phone call recording, and audio transcription in Notes and other apps, and more.
Some of the more significant and compelling Apple Intelligence features that Apple plans to introduce at a later date include Image Playground, Genmoji, ChatGPT integration with Siri, priority notifications, and several other additions.