Apple has made a habit of launching its new iPhones in September. But will the situation repeat itself this year with the iPhone 16? The question may arise knowing that Apple Intelligence will not be available at launch.
iPhone 16 in September, but Apple Intelligence in October
According to information from Mark Gurman of BloombergApple will indeed offer its various iPhone 16 in September, despite the absence of its AI. We will have to wait for iOS 18.1 in October to benefit from it. The journalist indicates:
These days, Apple typically releases iPhones in September. But the company faces a similar dilemma. Apple Intelligence — a key feature of the iPhone 16 — won’t be ready until October. This time, however, Apple is taking a different approach and won’t hold back the new hardware until the services are ready. I’m told the iPhone will launch around the same time as last year — a quick glance at the calendar suggests September 10 — and users will need to update their new hardware to iOS 18.1 in October to be able to use Apple Intelligence.
He notes that Apple has already delayed the release of iPhones because features were not ready. He cites the example of the iPhone 4S, which was not released in June, but in October. The reason is that Apple offered Siri and iCloud, but both were not ready by June. So the manufacturer preferred to launch everything at once in the fall. But for the iPhone 16, there will be the phone first, then the AI, and not both at the same time.
Apple Intelligence is already available in developer beta with iOS 18.1 on iPhone, iPadOS 18.1 on iPad, and macOS 15.1 Sequoia on Mac. This is a limited version of AI for now, many of the features Apple announced at WWDC 2024 are not yet available.
