What Happened To Apple Intelligence?

A few weeks ago, Apple was hyping up everyone's expectations about the Apple Intelligence, saying it is an exciting time to own one that has those feature.

In fact, the AI tools are one of the major selling points of the new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro. It was uppose to bring proofreading and rewriting, summaries, and AI photo editing to iOS 18. That’s not all, combined with iOS 18.1, Apple Intelligence will bring more features to the gadget.

So where is it now? And is it actually a big deal?

Apple Intelligence is currently in testing via the iOS 18.1 public beta. This means Apple users can expect to see Writing Tools, Clean Up, and Notification Summaries, to name just a few features, arrive in October with iOS 18.1’s official release.

Later this year, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Genmoji and Image Playground will arrive in iOS 18.2 which is expected in December. Following on from those major updates, iOS 18.3 is expected around January, and could potentially add some of the Apple Intelligence-fuelled Siri features. Finally, the full Siri Apple Intelligence makeover is expected in March of next year as part of iOS 18.4, closing out the first year of Apple Intelligence features just in time for iOS 19 and WWDC 2025.

Based on these rumors, and Apple’s own confirmation that Apple Intelligence will launch this month, we fully expect iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 to arrive in the next couple of weeks.

The Apple Intelligence launch is a huge deal in terms of the future of easily accessible AI, and Apple’s entrance into the AI space could play a pivotal part in the future of the technology. Average consumers and regular gadget clients will probably get their first taste of AI in Apple Intelligence. This means Apple’s foray into AI, and its attempt to become "AI for the rest of us", is a far bigger deal than the new AI features themselves.

iPhone users make up the majority of the US smartphone market, and Apple has built a successful business on the promise of its technology just working straight out the box. With the arrival of Apple Intelligence, users will get a good idea of whether or not AI is ready to become a key element of our daily lives, or if, in its current form, it’s just a nice-to-have that they forget about with time.

Does Apple Intelligence become a key element of the iPhone experience, like FaceID, or does it become the next example of Apple’s ideas not living up to their promise like the discontinued Touch Bar?

Every smartphone with AI features these days, whether that’s the Google Pixel 9 or the Samsung S24 Ultra, has what seems like a repackaging of the same tools: writing, summarizing, photo editing, and a better voice assistant. The more important question is whether Apple can surpass the other Android offerings and offer something distinct? And if so, do people even care?