According to reliable industry source Mark Gurman, Apple is preparing to launch a developer beta of iOS 18.1 as early as this week. The beta will include the first look at the AI-powered Apple Intelligence.
Originally slated for inclusion in the standard iOS 18 release scheduled for September, Apple Intelligence has been pushed back to the subsequent 18.1 update, expected to drop in October. Why? We don’t know as of now, but this decision allows the company to prioritize bug fixes and overall system stability for the initial iOS 18 rollout.
But all this also means that the upcoming iPhone 16 will be launched without Apple Intelligence. This doesn’t look favorable for the company, which is already lagging behind when it comes to AI compared to other tech giants like Microsoft and Google.
Features like Image Playground and Genmoji are expected to be part of the initial 18.1 beta release, but more advanced functionalities, such as a revamped Siri 2.0 and ChatGPT integration, are likely to arrive at a later stage, potentially sometime next spring, somewhere around iOS 18.4.
As for macOS, details remain scarce for now; it’s plausible that a similar beta cycle will commence for the upcoming macOS Sequoia, bringing Apple Intelligence features to Mac users as well.
More here.