It’s perhaps no surprise that Apple is behind on AI development this year. The company is taking its time, rolling out features only when they are polished and refined. While the company first revealed its progress during WWDC in June, its recent product launch, “It’s Glowtime,” showed how Apple Intelligence will significantly improve the iPhone experience.

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There’s a catch: the new experiences require iOS 18, which launches on September 16, and one of the newer iPhone models. That means that even if you’re updating to iOS 18 on an older model, you’ll need to consider upgrading your iPhone to one of the models below if you want to experience Apple Intelligence when it’s released. The good news is that pre-orders for Apple’s iPhone 16 range have already started, and there are plenty of deals you can take advantage of.

What new AI features does iOS 18 offer?

iOS 18 is not expected to launch with the full complement of Apple Intelligence features, but later versions should include many new AI tools, including:

• Improved Siri
• New summary tools for email, Keynotes, third-party apps, and more
• Writing tools (including rewriting, proofreading and summarizing text features)
• Apple Image Playground
• Genmoji
• Priority notifications
• AI-generated memory films
• Search in videos
• AI-powered photo editing
• Image stick in the Notes app

In addition to these AI features, iOS 18 offers an improved Control Center, new privacy options like locking or hiding apps, scheduling messages, new messages via satellite, the ability to link phones together to exchange Apple Cash, and more.

Which iPhone models support these new AI features?

You need at least one iPhone 15 Pro (or a newer model) to use these features.

Requiring Apple’s latest hardware to take advantage of these new features may seem like planned obsolescence or a money-making scheme, and it’s probably a bit of both. But there’s also the hardware aspect: Apple claims the requirement is due to the processing hardware (such as RAM and storage) needed to support its new AI features – especially for tasks that require on-device processing.

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Processing AI tasks on-device offers two key benefits: it ensures more security of information and reduces latency. Apple claims that not all iPhones, especially older models, have the processing power needed to handle these tasks. The new AI features will rely on both cloud-based and on-device processing, depending on the complexity of the task.

Specifically, Apple says that these tasks require at least Apple’s A17 Pro chip, which is currently only found in the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro MaxThis means that the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, although they will launch at the same time as the Pro models, will not support the AI ​​upgrades as these phones only have Apple’s A16 Bionic SoC. The iPhone16 The lineup includes A18 and A18 Pro chips, making it best suited for the comprehensive AI experience.

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If you don’t own an iPhone 15 Pro and don’t plan on upgrading anytime soon, don’t worry. You may still be able to take advantage of some Apple Intelligence features, especially those that run through the cloud. But if you want the full experience, you may want to prepare to buy a new iPhone.

Which Mac and iPad models support Apple Intelligence?

The good news is that if you’re a Mac or iPad user, you don’t need the latest model. To take advantage of AI features on a Mac or iPad, your device will need at least an M1 chip. Since Apple currently makes M4 iPads and M3 Macs, many users of older devices should have some wiggle room to test out the latest AI features.