By the time I finished watching the latest WWDC, it was clear that Apple had finally given us a bunch of cool features we’ve been waiting for on the iPhone for a long time.
However, I can’t help but feel that iOS 18 lacked that one flagship feature that everyone is talking about (for some reason). And when I say “flagship feature,” I don’t necessarily mean a feature that Apple itself has chosen to more actively promote.
Going back to iOS 17, the fan-favorite new feature was probably Sleep Mode, which turns your iPhone into a desk/nightstand clock – simple but practical.
And I know this isn’t tied to any iOS release, but the iPhone 14 Pro launch blew everyone away with the “dynamic island” and the genius way Apple made the display hole feel like it’s part of the iOS 16 experience. A great example of how Apple can use software to create something exciting that no one else has done.
Did Apple copy Google and Samsung’s work for iOS 18 without much effort?
You may not be able to circle search, but iOS 18 will let iPhone 15 Pro users search for anything on their screen.
- Apple’s version of Google’s writing styles, called “Writing Tools,” which will rewrite, polish, proofread, and summarize text for you
- The Image Playground feature, which lets you generate images from prompts, appears to produce cartoon-like images, possibly because Apple doesn’t want them to be “too realistic” and used for “malicious purposes.”
The Image Wand feature, which Apple briefly discussed, is an exception to this rule. It’s supposed to take a sketch (made by you) and turn it into a more usable image. For the record, Microsoft has already introduced an identical feature as part of MS Paint on Windows laptops running CoPilot.
- “Genmoji,” or the ability to create your own custom emojis, ranks very close to “Animoji” and “Slofie” on my list of “dumb iPhone features,” so let’s leave it there…
- Then there’s “Clean up” – Apple’s version of Google’s magic eraser, which is much appreciated on my iPhone, but again, nothing revolutionary here.
- While this is rather subjective, I find the new Photos app too cluttered and generally confusing; also, browsing through photos now seems unnecessarily animated (because it is) – let me know what you think
In all, iOS 18 It seems to be missing that special “applesauce” – the moment when Apple makes it “later but better”.
And aside from deeper AI integration (more on that below), I haven’t seen Tim Cook & Co. bring an interesting twist to any of the “AI” features that Google, Samsung, and even Microsoft have already introduced.
Not to mention the underwhelming home screen customization options, which seem to let you choose a universal shade for all your icons, making third-party apps look questionable. There’s a new dark mode for the home screen, which is super basic… Overall, it’s highly unusual for Apple to show a lack of attention to detail, but here we are – at least in the iOS 18 beta.
The most impressive Apple Intelligence features won’t be available until 2025; some will only be available in Europe until further notice; “Apple Intelligence” exclusively on iPhone 15 Pro
Apple Intelligence is exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro, and that must be a crime. Somewhere. But not in this universe.
First of all, the most important thing here is the fact that only the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max get the best and most advanced “Apple Intelligence” features.
I’ve discussed this in more detail before, but I’ll just say that despite Apple’s recent excuse about “underpowered iPhones, which wouldn’t run Apple Intelligence as quickly as we’d like,” I still believe this was an intentional omission on Apple’s part.
Ultimately, Apple always knew that phones like the iPhone 15 and iPhone 14 Pro should have the latest and greatest AI, but decided to give them only 6GB of RAM and Apple chips with fewer Neural Engine cores a while back.
In short… To give credit where credit is due, Apple has indeed done things “the Apple way” by implementing AI across the entire system experience rather than just in certain apps. This is to be commended because it’s exactly what could allow the iPhone to leapfrog the competition in the on-device AI space.
However, right from the start, many of the advanced features of iOS 18 will be postponed “until 2025”. Unsurprisingly, these are the most impressive:
- Personal context – Siri will be able to look at your photos, emails, messages, calendar events and more to help you with more specific tasks – well, not until 2025
- App Control – Whenever you need to open a document, move a file, or share a web link, Siri will be able to handle specific tasks in your apps – but not until 2025
- With “On-screen Awareness,” Siri will be able to see what’s happening on your screen and know exactly what you’re talking about when you ask a specific question. It’s pretty cool, but it won’t be available until 2025.
- Additional languages – Siri currently only speaks US English, but don’t worry, Apple says “more languages are coming in 2025”
It’s also worth noting that at launch, Siri will only support US English, with other languages coming “sometime in 2025.” But best of all, the full suite of “Apple Intelligence” tricks (as well as features like iPhone Mirroring) won’t be available in Europe, at least until further notice, which is hugely disappointing for Europeans… like me (hello!).
Tim Cook and co hate to “rush things,” but Apple felt compelled to provide people with “AI”: could this lead to a rocky launch of iOS 18?
Spoiler: iOS 18’s launch is already rocky. Well, at least for the early betas running on my iPhone 15 Pro Max.
As I mentioned, the most powerful features of Apple Intelligence won’t even arrive until 2025, which means that iPhone 15 Pro and the new iPhone 16 series will run what is essentially a “beta version” of Apple’s onboard AI.
Given that it is part of the Siri integration, it also remains to be seen whether ChatGPT will arrive in time for the public release of iOS 18 And iPhone 16.
ChatGPT will play a big role in Apple’s take on Google’s awesome “Circle to Search” feature, which lets you search for anything on your screen. And, of course, it’ll do all the rest of ChatGPT you’d expect (at least when Siri can’t).
With the delayed launch of the best new AI features, the exclusivity of the iPhone 15 Pro, questionable European availability, and a pinch of carelessness, I’m not entirely sure iOS 18 will be Apple’s smoothest iOS launch yet.
It’s clear that Tim Cook & Co felt compelled to offer “something” in the field of AI. But was Apple ready?
News Source : www.phonearena.com
Gn tech
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24038601/acastro_STK109_microsoft_02.jpg?w=390&resize=390,220&ssl=1 "Microsoft’s Surface AI event: news, rumors and plenty of Qualcomm laptops")
