AI is causing Apple 'headaches' for the iPhone 16 series

Up to now, Apple has always tried to separate the iPhone and iPhone Pro lines with a few different features and accompanying price differences. However, the difference between the two could fundamentally change by the end of this year and the cause is none other than artificial intelligence (AI).

Google's launch of Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro took place just a few weeks after the launch of the iPhone 15 series, kicking off the AI-equipped smartphone race. Google expects the Pixel to be the first AI smartphone and lead the race. Samsung's Galaxy AI also made a big splash in the market when the Galaxy S24 launched, causing other manufacturers to focus on developing artificial intelligence.

Because Apple launched the iPhone 15 before these two Android giants, the iPhone seems to have missed the first step in the AI ​​smartphone revolution. A closer look at how Apple is adding features to the iPhone reveals the use of AI in Siri, computational photography, and autocorrect. All are valid but are considered 'unattractive' by experts.

Obviously AI does not suddenly appear overnight, it takes time to understand the principles behind AI, software programming and hardware development. How much Apple is focusing on creating an innovative AI system, and whether the long-term plan is to release Apple AI at the beginning of the 2024 product cycle, is yet to be revealed. What's clear is that the iPhone 16 series will ship with a variety of AI systems, both locally and on iCloud. Consumers will see these explained in more detail at Apple's upcoming Worldwide Developer Conference in June.

Running Generative AI locally requires a notable amount of processing power. The latest Android chipsets from Qualcomm, Mediatek, and Samsung all have hardware dedicated to synthetic AI, which increases the efficiency of the process in both speed and power required. It's worth noting that even going back to the 2023 chipset generation would limit the ability to implement AI on the handset, leaving no choice but to use the cloud — or not offer the capabilities at all. this feature in software updates.

Last year's iPhone 15 shipped with Apple's A16 chipset, while the iPhone 15 Pro shipped with the A17 Pro - a clear gap between the 'hearts' of the two handsets.

When Apple moved to bring AI (as consumers now understand it) to the iPhone, everyone expected that Apple would want to do as much processing on the device as possible. As Android manufacturers have discovered, if you want AI to work smoothly on your device, you'll need hardware support in the chipset.

Thankfully, Apple has made the new A17 chipset available for the 2024 iPhone lineup, and it's almost guaranteed that the A17 will have specific hardware dedicated to synthetic AI processing. Now the question is how to handle the artificial specs split between the two handsets.

This has made experts skeptical about whether Apple will limit AI to only iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max. Apple AI will need to be available on all new devices. If that's the case, then Apple will need to raise the iPhone 16 to a higher level than many people expected this time last year. Matching the A17 of the current Pro models isn't enough, the iPhone 16 will need to have similar AI hardware capabilities.

Micah Soto

Update 09 April 2024