Apple delivers on hardware upgrades but punts Apple Intelligence rollout

After facing numerous delays, Apple Intelligence is still not fully developed. During Monday's "Glowtime" Apple hardware event, the company frequently mentioned Apple Intelligence, its bespoke generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) technology -- but had few new features to unveil. 

The event kicked off with CEO Tim Cook stating that the iPhone 16 will be the first mobile device built "from the ground up" to support Apple Intelligence. However, apart from Visual Intelligence, a Google Lens-like camera feature for iPhone 16, and some gen AI-powered features for the new Apple Watch Series 10 and AirPods 4, the company didn't expand much on the capabilities to come. 

As the company announced at WWDC in June, Apple Intelligence promises to fine-tune your writing, summarize your notes, seamlessly integrate ChatGPT for frequent use, and streamline daily tasks. A newly enhanced Siri will provide more useful assistance by better understanding the user's activity. 

Also: Everything announced at Apple's iPhone 16 event: AI features, AirPods, Apple Watch Series 10, more 

According to the release, Apple Intelligence will be powered by a new A18 chipset that is "optimized for large generative models," running them "2x faster than the A16 Bionic chip." Cook said the next generation of iPhones has been designed especially for Apple Intelligence, which will "supercharge" users' iPhone experiences. With the power of gen AI models, Apple intelligence is trained to adapt to the "personal" needs of each user. 

During the event, Apple also doubled down on Private Cloud Compute, the data protection service that gives users access to more powerful gen AI models without compromising their personal information and privacy. As Craig Federighi, Apple's head of software engineering, explained, these custom chips allow users to run AI requests in the cloud while keeping their data private.

Also: Every iPhone model that will be updated to Apple's iOS 18 (and which ones can't)

Visual Intelligence will be available later this year -- but as Apple admitted, many features will be missing from Apple Intelligence at first, extending the long-awaited rollout. During Monday's event, the company said several more features will arrive later this year. 

According to Bloomberg, "the company's AI technology is still a work in progress." However, Apple is eager to prove that it's now a leading artificial technology platform to both consumers and Wall Street stakeholders, putting major pressure on the tech giant to deliver soon on all of its AI capabilities. 

Apple Intelligence features will roll out to users on capable devices through free software updates, according to Apple. They will be available first in US English next month, with localized English for the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa coming in December. Support for other languages like Chinese, Japanese, French, and Spanish is coming next year.