9 AI features that could come with iOS 18

Mark Gurman is currently revealing so much inside information from Apple’s developer kitchen that the WWDC keynote is almost superfluous.

In a recent newsletter, for example, there is a fairly detailed list of all the AI featues that Apple intends to release this year.

According to this, Apple wants to announce all functions as a beta first in order to protect itself against possible errors and public outrage.

Much of the work involved in creating AI content will be done by the hardware on the iPhone, with Apple only sending the requests to its own servers in exceptional cases.

The demands on the processors are correspondingly high: only the new chips from last year’s iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, plus those found on the upcoming iPhone 16 range, are likely to be compatible.

As a result, the regular iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus might not be compatible, given they use older chips.

and the upcoming iPhones will be able to perform all AI functions. As a potential consequence of this, the iPhone 15 (Plus) will probably not be able to support the new functions, as the devices come with a processor from the previous generation.

These are the AI features we’re expecting in iOS 18:

Transcribe the voice messages on the device, as reported by AppleInsider
Retouch your own photos directly on the iPhone from iOS 18. Up to now, rudimentary image editing has been possible, but for the entire image, not for individual image parts
Apple may want to introduce customised emojis that reproduce the written text more accurately than standardised images. One disadvantage of this is that they will probably only be able to be displayed on iOS 18, not on Android. Android has already had such a function for a while; here, the generated emojis are sent as stickers, which increases compatibility. It remains to be seen whether Apple will follow the same path
The AI behind Chat-GPT, which Apple has licensed from OpenAI, will also make searching the web faster and more accurate via Spotlight on the iPhone
Siri is now 13 years old, but still feels like a beta. Apple is now planning to spice up its digital assistant and make conversations more natural
Apparently, the manufacturer is also planning a Siri adaptation for the Apple Watch that can perform typical tasks better from the wrist
Using generative AI, the strength of Chat-GPT, the developer wants to enable users to generate automatic responses to emails and messages. This function is already available via “Notifications”, which is currently just a list of frequently used responses such as “OK”, “On my way”, “Thank you”, etc. Most likely, the new system will offer slightly longer and more contextualised responses
Xcode is also getting AI support, as Mark Gurman reported back in February. Allegedly, Xcode can take over the creation of individual code blocks
Another AI function would be the expansion of the Journal app: the operating system will supposedly create smart reminders from missed notifications and emails, including web pages, messages, documents, notes and other forms of media

None of these are confirmed at this stage – it remains to be seen if they’ll all make it into iOS 18. You may also be interested in the new hardware we’re expecting at WWDC.

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