We wrote last week that Apple is planning a major AI revolution in iOS 18. But some of the new features are unlikely to work on older iPhones, even if they appear on the new operating system’s device compatibility list.
Probably 22 iPhone models won’t get every iOS 18 AI feature
Apple’s initial AI roadmap for iOS 18 is rumored to have two parts: Basic on-device AI features and more advanced capabilities that will require communication with Apple’s servers.
At the center of these features is a redesigned Siri. To this end, Apple engineers had to redesign Siri’s core software using large language models (LLMs), the algorithm that underpins generative AI.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, this will allow Siri to open specific documents, organize notes in folders, delete an email, summarize an article, email a web link, and more. Apple is thought to be planning to use artificial intelligence to analyze what people are doing on their devices to automatically enable these features.
Apple is preparing to bring important AI improvements to Siri with the iOS 18 update. Let's take a look at the details together!
Apple’s own LLM is expected to perform what are considered basic AI tasks and will be entirely on-device. In other words, the model is powered by the iPhone’s processor rather than the cloud. It’s unclear what the criteria for a basic task would be, but the LLM is said to include code that determines whether a request can be processed on the device or requires Apple’s servers.
According to Gurman, on-device AI capabilities will largely require an iPhone 15 Pro or higher to work. Meanwhile, rumors suggest that iOS 18 will be compatible with the same iPhone models as iOS 17. Combining these two reports, we can expect the following iPhone models to run iOS 18, but not support some of Apple’s on-device AI features:
- iPhone 15
- iPhone 15 Plus
- iPhone 14
- iPhone 14 Plus
- iPhone 14 Pro
- iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 13
- iPhone 13 mini
- iPhone 13 Pro
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 mini
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 11
- iPhone 11 Pro
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone XS
- iPhone XS Max
- iPhone XR
- iPhone SE (2nd generation)
- iPhone SE (3rd generation)
Both iPadOS 18 and macOS 15 are expected to share many of the same AI features, and Gurman notes that Macs and iPads will need at least one M1 chip for on-device AI.
Newly revealed Galaxy Z Fold 6 images reveal that the device will have larger bezels and an angular design.
In other words, no device older than the fifth-generation iPad Pro will support on-device AI in iPadOS 18.
