The iPhone 16 might not arrive with Apple Intelligence

iOS 18 brings tons of new features to iPhones, including new customization options, iMessage enhancements, and a Photos redesign, but the one feature everyone is waiting to try out is Apple Intelligence. While we already know Apple will hold some AI features until 2025, a new report claims the first release of iOS 18 won’t have any Apple Intelligence features at all.

According to Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, the Apple Intelligence release plan “presents the possibility that the first iPhone 16 models shipped to consumers this year will lack the new AI features and require a software update weeks later.”

That could put a slight damper on the iPhone 16 launch, but more importantly, it will affect the timetable for iOS 18. For starters, Gurman says Apple “is planning to make Apple Intelligence available to software developers for the first time for early testing as soon as this week via iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1 betas.” It’s extremely rare for Apple to test two versions of the same OS at the same time, but as Gurman explains, “Concerns over the stability of Apple Intelligence features, in part, led the company to split the features from the initial launch of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18.”

Gurman doesn’t say whether the delay applies to macOS Sequoia as well, though it’s likely macOS 15 doesn’t launch until October, possibly alongside iOS 18.1. iOS 18 is expected to arrive in mid-September, while iOS 18.1 will likely arrive in early October. Apple could still delay the launch of Apple Intelligence to iOS 18.2