Own an outdated Mac or iPhone? To access Apple Intelligence, you will want a more recent device
Last week, at the Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple unveiled “Apple Intelligence,” a suite of AI capabilities that would only be available on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, as well as iPads and Macs with M-series CPUs. Many customers criticised Apple over this choice, claiming that Apple purposefully limited Apple Intelligence to newer smartphones in order to increase sales. Since then, Apple has provided an explanation for why Apple Intelligence—which includes these AI features—is only available on newer gadgets.
The chief of AI at Apple, John Giannandrea, says that the reason Apple Intelligence isn’t as strong on the iPhone 15 Pro and Macs and iPads with M-series chips is because of the substantial processing power required to run big language models on such devices. Large language model inference is very computationally expensive. To run these models quickly enough to be effective, a combination of device bandwidth, the size of the Apple Intelligence Neural Engine (ANE), and the device’s processing power is needed, Giannandrea said on John Gruber’s The Talk Show.
“In theory, you could run these models on a very old device, but it would be so slow that it wouldn’t be practical,” he stated.
Unlike ChatGPT, Apple Intelligence—Cupertino’s take on artificial intelligence—is not an app or chatbot. Rather, it is an integrated AI layer that is present in the most recent OS systems from Apple. In essence, Apple Intelligence is a form of AI that is integrated directly into your Mac or iPhone. It requires a lot of computing power to run on-device, which is why it is limited to select Apple products.
Although this disappoints a lot of Apple consumers, the truth is that in order to run Apple Intelligence, users must update to the newest Apple devices, which are either the iPad with the new M-series chip or the iPhone 15 Pro. This implies that it won’t be compatible with older devices, such as the iPhone 14 Pro Max or iPhone 15.
The AI features of Apple Intelligence include a completely revamped Siri, AI-assisted writing tools, real-time call transcripts, and the ability to create unique emojis, among other capabilities.
Analysts are hoping that this strategy will stimulate gadget upgrades, given Apple’s recent slow sales of iPads, Macs, and iPhones. Apple disputes claims that Apple Intelligence is a ruse to increase iPhone sales, though. Apple’s marketing chief, Greg Joswiak, shot back, “If that were the case, we would have only included recent iPads and Macs as well,” dispelling rumours that the company is only limiting Apple Intelligence to newer models in an effort to increase sales.
The most important question is whether Apple Intelligence will work with the basic iPhone 16, which is expected to ship later this autumn, or if consumers would need to purchase a Pro model in order to enjoy all of the AI functions. Time will tell.
