Apple is holding its fall event for 2024 on Monday, September 9 at 10:30 pm at the Steve Jobs Theater, located at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino. During the event, the tech giant will finally launch the much-awaited iPhone 16 series, along with new Apple Watch models and AirPods. While the new generation iPhones are expected to come with several new features and upgrades, this time they will be special as they will be integrated with Apple Intelligence—Apple’s own artificial intelligence platform.

During its developers conference at WWDC 2024 in June, Apple provided a glimpse of iOS 18, highlighting its advanced AI capabilities, branded as Apple Intelligence. These features include on-device image generation, a Siri powered by ChatGPT, automatic call recording, and transcription, among other innovations. During the event, Apple revealed that its Apple Intelligence will be available with the iPhone 16 models as well as the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. With the launch of the iPhone 16, we will finally get an in-hand experience of the AI ​​features even without enrolling in the iOS 18 beta.

Notably, Apple is restricting the availability of Apple Intelligence to newer models due to hardware limitations of older devices. Specifically, the absence of a strong neural processing unit (NPU) and at least 8 GB of RAM limits the capabilities of these devices. As a result, all four models of the upcoming iPhone 16 series—iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max—are likely to be equipped with the A18 chip and enough RAM to support Apple Intelligence across the board.

As far as features go, let’s take a closer look at how Apple Intelligence will transform the iPhone experience.

AI Writing Tools

One of the most notable features of Apple Intelligence is its suite of AI-powered writing tools. These tools will be embedded across the entire Apple ecosystem, including iPad and MacBook, and will be available in both native and third-party apps. Users will be able to use these AI-powered writing tools to easily rewrite, proofread, or summarize text. Apple Intelligence will also provide real-time assistance, helping users find the right word or shorten long texts.

Priority notifications and smart replies

Apple will also bring intelligence, a smarter way to manage notifications and emails. The new Priority Notifications feature will allow users to prioritise alerts based on their relevance, ensuring that the most important messages are always at the top. The feature will work in conjunction with Focus Mode, allowing users to minimise distractions by only receiving important notifications. In the Mail app, the Priority Messages feature will move urgent emails to the top of the inbox, including AI-generated summaries for quick reading. Additionally, Smart Reply will provide contextually appropriate responses, allowing users to respond to emails with just a single tap.

Image Playground and Zenmoji

Apple will also bring Intelligence Image Playground and Zenmoji. Image Playground will allow users to create images from text prompts, offering multiple styles such as animation and illustration. The feature is integrated across all of Apple’s apps, allowing users to create images for presentations, social media, or personal use.

Zenmoji, on the other hand, allows users to create personalized emojis based on people’s details or even photos.

AI features for audio and media

Apple Intelligence will also improve the way audio and media are handled. In the Notes and Phone apps, users will be able to record and transcribe conversations, with AI-generated summaries highlighting key points. This is especially useful for professionals who need to keep track of important details from a meeting or call.

In the Photos app, Apple Intelligence will power advanced search capabilities, allowing users to find specific photos or videos based on detailed descriptions. The new Clean Up tool will use AI to remove unwanted elements from photos, making it easier to improve your shots. Additionally, users can create custom Memories in the Photos app, where AI turns photos and videos into a coherent story, including a narrative arc and music from Apple Music.

reimagined siri

Apple Intelligence will also give Siri, Apple’s voice assistant, a significant upgrade. The assistant will offer users deeper system integration, richer language understanding, and the ability to type commands when it’s not convenient to say them out loud. Siri will be able to perform contextual actions, such as adding a shared address to a contact or finding specific information from different apps. These enhancements will make Siri more capable and personal, providing assistance tailored to the user’s context and needs.

Privacy is paramount

Apple said that with AI, user privacy becomes a major concern, but maintains that privacy is central to Apple Intelligence. Apple Intelligence processes most AI tasks on the device, ensuring that personal information remains secure. For more complex tasks, Apple has introduced Private Cloud Compute, a system that uses remote servers with an emphasis on privacy to handle demanding tasks without compromising user data.

Availability of Apple Intelligence

Notably, iPhone 15 Pro users who are enrolled in the beta program with iOS 18 beta will be able to try out Apple Intelligence features after the release of iOS 18.1 beta. However, Apple will not release all the features for trial. Features such as writing assistance, notification summary, and AI capabilities are expected to be available in the iOS 18.1 update. However, advanced capabilities such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT integration with Siri, Image Playground for image generation, and Zenmoji for AI-generated emojis are expected to be available by late 2024 or early 2025.