iOS 18 Release Date: Here's What You Need to Know

Apple has reportedly paused development of new features for upcoming iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and VisionOS updates to focus on improving quality and eliminating bugs.

So after a long time with countless rumors, Apple has officially launched its latest product series at the "Glowtime" event that took place in the early morning of September 10. In addition to the main announcements mainly related to hardware, the Cupertino company also revealed the time when the next major iPhone operating system update - iOS 18 - will be released: September 16.

Previously, there were a series of reports indicating that iOS 18 would be supported on a wide range of iPhone generations, including even models launched in 2018. Now, with official information from Apple, the list of supported hardware for iOS 18 will expand to include the newly launched models: iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max.

According to Apple, the new iPhones will be available for pre-order starting this Friday (September 13) and will be officially released on September 20 in more than 58 countries. In other words, owners of the new iPhone models will experience the latest iOS software update as soon as they get their hands on the product.

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The iOS 18 update packs a bunch of long-awaited features, including a Home screen dark mode, flashlight customization, easier WiFi password sharing, a Passwords app, an improved Settings app, Eye Tracking, and motion sickness reduction.

The new iOS version will also come with the AI imaging feature set that Apple has been actively promoting in recent times, called Apple Intelligence. This is a set of AI features for iPhone, iPad, and Mac to help users write tools, create images, improve photo search, personal context awareness, summarizing, and editing images.

Apple Intelligence will also be available as a free beta on supported devices next month with the release of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS 15.1. It was also recently reported that Apple is planning to release Image Playground and Genmoji features as part of the iOS 18.2 beta update.

In the initial rollout, Apple Intelligence will only work if the device and Siri language are set to English. The feature will support iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPads and Macs with M1 or later.

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Speaking about the future roadmap for Apple Intelligence, the company said:

Additional languages and platforms will be available over the next year. Later this year, Apple Intelligence will add support for localized English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Next year, Apple Intelligence will expand to more languages, including Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish.

iPhone software updates typically have high adoption rates because Apple keeps tight control over hardware and software development. According to the latest data from Apple, the iOS 17 update is running on 77% of all iPhones and 86% of iPhones introduced in the last four years.

Apple