How, in 2 hours, Apple sidelined more than a billion iPhones ?

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A week ago, Apple organized one of its famous keynotes, during the WWDC conference. This event was not dedicated to new hardware, but it was an opportunity for the firm to present a much more important new feature: Apple Intelligence. The keynote lasted almost 1 hour and 45 minutes: initially, the firm first presented the updates of its platforms (iOS 18, macOS Sequoia, etc.) and it was only around the end that it announced its new features linked to artificial intelligence. Before this presentation, Apple was considered to be behind other tech giants in terms of generative artificial intelligence.

The Cupertino company has developed its own artificial intelligence models that it can integrate into its products, in order to provide features such as writing assistance, a better version of Siri, or even an emoji generator. Additionally, Apple is working with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT directly into Siri. However, when Apple Intelligence becomes available this fall (first in beta and only in English), iPhone users will need to own an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max to take advantage of it. The iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, and all other models currently running iOS 17 will also receive the iOS 18 update, and a number of interesting new features. But they will not be entitled to Apple's new developments in terms of generative AI.

A billion iPhones sidelined?

Models incompatible with Apple Intelligence will not be obsolete, strictly speaking (and according to Apple's definition of obsolescence). Additionally, these will always receive security updates. But in the age of artificial intelligence, the absence of Apple Intelligence on these models remains annoying. Apple, which makes ecology one of its mainstays, risks pushing millions of people to replace iPhones that they might have kept for one or two more years if Apple Intelligence was offered on these models. .

Initially, we thought that the firm's AI features are incompatible with the iPhone 15 because of its processor which is less advanced than that of the iPhone 15 Pro. But analyst Ming Chi Kuo intervened on his blog to explain that it would not be because of the processor, but rather because of the RAM memory. Kuo relies on the fact that Macs using an M1 chip will be compatible with Apple Intelligence. However, the A16 chip in the iPhone 15 is supposed to have more computing power, for AI, than this M1 chip. On the other hand, the weakness of the iPhone 15 is that it only has 6 GB of RAM memory.

Towards a new “supercycle”  ?

In any case, the arrival of Apple Intelligence could stimulate a “supercycle” of iPhone renewal among users. Moreover, the announcement of these AI features has already led to an increase in the value of Apple shares on the stock market.

< li>Apple is catching up on AI by introducing Apple Intelligence, a series of generative AI-powered features for iPhones, iPads and Macs
• Unfortunately, these new features are only compatible with the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max
• If the models incompatible with Apple Intelligence do not officially become obsolete, they risk being quickly replaced

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