Why Apple is intelligent about its use of Apple Intelligence in the new iPhone 16 series

Neil Shah, Partner & Research VP at Counterpoint Research, sums up why Apple’s take on AI in smartphones, though late, is very different: “This starts with not just hardware but extends to features powered by a combination of silicon, software, and services. That’s the main differentiator, providing a strong foundation.” It is important, Shah says, that Apple is approaching AI with a blend of on-device AI and private computing. “Data is not being stored or sent to the cloud; users have full control, which is a unique way of delivering AI to customers.”

To support GenAI across the device, Apple’s new iPhone 16 comes with an A18 processor, while the iPhone 16 Pro series gets the A18 Pro chips, both of which can do high-performance computing. The CPU in the A18, Sribalan Santhanam, VP of Apple’s silicon technologies, claims, “is faster than all the competition, challenging even high-end desktop PCs” and also features our latest desktop-class GPU architecture.” And pushing the envelope a little further, the iPhone 16 Pro gets the A18 Pro chip, which Santhanam said is “even faster and more efficient than the A18” as it enables many of the features that are unique to the flagship. He says the neural engine on the A18 Pro excels at generative AI workloads compared to the one in the A17 Pro that powered the iPhone 15 Pro range. “It’s designed with Apple intelligence for even better performance combined with the increased memory bandwidth,” he says in the keynote.

But Apple knows that all the GenAI queries can’t be done on-device and has brought in the concept of Private Cloud Compute where it uses dedicated servers to run AI models. This blend of on-device AI and private computing, Shah says, is unique. “Data is not being stored or sent to the cloud; users have full control, which is a unique way of delivering AI to customers.”

iPhone 16 Plus in five colours. (Image credit: Apple)

For users, this means the ability to get writing assistance or emojis and images from prompts across the device, along with the visual intelligence powered by the camera. Apple Intelligence is personalised at the user level and will have this context in whatever you do, remembering the names of your children or family, your preferences, and locations when it suggests something.

Then there is Siri, Apple’s decade-old smart assistant which is getting a new lease of life thanks to Apple Intelligence. It helps that millions of Apple users are habituated to troubling Siri for a range of uses throughout the day. “With Siri 2.0, there’s potential for more personalised interaction with first-party apps, and Apple could integrate intelligence using on-device personal models for third-party applications,” Shah highlighted, adding that the control Apple gives users over their data and how much they can share with third-party apps will likely drive growth. “It may take a few years for Apple to fully realise this vision, but the approach seems more evolved compared to the competition, largely because Apple’s business model focuses on user experience, unlike Google’s data-driven model for training AI.”

iPhone 16 Pro in four new colour options. (Image credit: Apple)

Le Xuan Chiew of Canalys told Indian Express the new Apple intelligence features are expected to “tighten the iOS ecosystem to grow cross-device sales and user stickiness”. The hardware improvements in the new iPhones to support the AI enhancements are “timely to capture replacement cycle spike from the pandemic”, the analyst added.

Though late to the AI game, rarely even using the term in its marketing so far, Apple has suddenly gone ahead of the competition when it comes to baking GenAI into a smartphone right from hardware to software. This could be the best push AI itself has gotten since its explosion into consumer consciousness since the launch of ChatGPT a couple of years back. Now to see if the consumers really make use of all this intelligence at their fingertips.

The writer is in California on the invite of Apple