Apple's slow rollout of Apple Intelligence features isn't vaporware, it'll just feel like it
Apple is slowly rolling out the various features of Apple Intelligence, with some coming in by 2025. So if you're worried that your current iPhone won't be able to access all the features with iOS 18, well, you may have a brand new phone by then.
Apple announced a slew of new AI features called Apple Intelligence during WWDC this year. Only some of those features will be available when iOS launches later this Fall, and not all iPhones can use them.
As we previously reported, only iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max handsets will have access to all the new features. Of course, by then you may have upgraded to an iPhone 16 as the launch of iOS 18 and Apple Intelligence should coincide with the upcoming set of smartphones. And even then, iOS 18 won't have every single Intelligence feature at launch.
As Bloomberg reports, Apple will roll out Intelligence features over several months, stretching into 2025 with no strict timeline for full release. So by the time you get access to all of the Apple Intelligence features, you may have forgotten they were even coming.
While it isn't vaporware, the pace of the rollouts might feel like it
While the staggered rollout phase for Apple Intelligence does offer multiple benefits to Apple, including increased time in training the artificial intelligence on multiple languages and making sure the AI chatbot doesn't suffer hallucinations the way ChatGPT can, it does have one key drawback. Namely, the limited attention span of the average smartphone user.
Even as someone who reports on technology news regularly, I am similarly prone to forgetting the small details. So if Apple Intelligence features take six months or longer to make it to my phone, I'm likely to forget Apple told me to expect them. Making the AI feel like vaporware – software that stays in development for lengthy periods without a set release date.
While English-speaking iPhone users with new smartphones will get access to Apple Intelligence first, the delayed release of additional languages will only increase the feeling of delay for iPhone users across the globe.
But I suppose it could be worse. It could be another U2 album no one asked for.
