Bloomberg financial news agency quoted a source saying that Apple Intelligence will be included in the operating system update in October. That means artificial intelligence (AI) features will not be present in the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 versions expected to be released in September.

Still, app developers can test Apple Intelligence as early as this week with iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1. This strategy breaks from Apple’s tradition, as the company typically doesn’t release previews of upcoming updates before the public upgrades to its new operating system.

But the stakes are higher than usual this time, according to Bloomberg , so to ensure a smooth experience, Apple needs the support of the developer community to help find problems and test the feature on a larger scale. Concerns about the stability of Apple Intelligence are part of the reason the iPhone maker is separating it from iOS 18 and iPadOS 18.

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Only iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max and iPhone 16 use Apple Intelligence. Photo: Bloomberg

Apple announced Apple Intelligence at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June. At the time, the company announced that Apple Intelligence would be coming as part of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18.

Last week, the tech giant released the fourth beta of iOS 18.0 to developers and wants to complete development by the end of July. When new iPhones are introduced, they typically come with a new operating system pre-installed, so the operating system needs to be completed a few weeks in advance, allowing time to install the software on the device before it ships.

Apple’s new plan means that the first iPhone 16 models arriving this year may lack AI features and will need to be updated later. Apple Intelligence includes a range of features including: prioritizing important notifications, summarizing web pages, voice notes, writing support tools, improved Siri, and integration of OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Even though Apple Intelligence is included in iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1, it’s still missing some features. Apple plans to roll out the full suite through updates through late 2024 and the first half of 2025. In addition to iPhones and iPads, it’ll also be available on Apple-powered Macs through macOS Sequoia.

The world's second-largest smartphone maker is betting that Apple Intelligence will help it compete in the generative AI market. By limiting the feature set to the iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, and iPhone 16, the company believes the new iPhones will sell better.

Bloomberg commented that the iPhone 16 does not have many design changes, so software improvements will take on the responsibility of supporting sales of the new model.

(According to Bloomberg)