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Apple showcased its AI features at the iPhone 16 launch event but users are yet to get any of these tools working on their devices
Apple’s Craig Federighi has shared the reasons in an interview
Apple Intelligence features were supposed to be the highlight of the new iPhone 16 series and even its launch event made it obvious. But it has been more than a month since Tim Cook and Co. introduced the new iPhones, and still no AI to power these devices. So, why has Apple delayed one of its biggest features for the new iPhones and other eligible devices?
One of Apple’s senior executives has been quoted in an interview this week, where he explains the reasons for the phased roll out and how big is AI in Apple’s scheme of things. “This is a big lift and we feel like we want to get it right,” Craig Federighi, software chief at Apple told WSJ in an interview.
Basically, Apple is being thoughtful and careful about how its AI applications perform and behave, which has a lot to do with the mishaps faced by Microsoft and Google in recent times. Apple is clearly going with the logical move of trying to be the best, not the first, which it effectively cannot be in the AI arena.
AI With A Difference
Having said that, Apple is doing its AI systems different from the rivals, making sure its user’s data is not compromised or even used to train the AI models like others have been doing over the last year.
In many ways, you can understand Apple’s philosophy behind its path to build the AI tools.
But then why commit and promise the Glow time before it is ready for the market? To which, Federighi said, “We wanted customers to be excited about what’s to come. We wanted to communicate what their phone could be and what’s coming on it in the next couple of months,” which again is probably the right marketing tactic from the brand as it tries to sell millions of the new iPhones that support the upcoming AI features.
Apple has been working on select AI features via the iOS 18.1 beta version and it is too early to tell if the right safeguards will deliver the promised results, especially for those using the iPhone 15 Pro or later models. In markets like India, Apple AI will bide its time till 2025 to make a big impact, so the company would be hoping that the teasers are good enough for people to wait for the real deal.