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Apple Explains iPhone 15 Pro Requirement for Apple Intelligence

dugbug said:
So if we have an older iphone, are there any SIRI improvements? or does it just turn into an AI cloud request and we get the same experience + a delay
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They aren't positioning iOS 18 as having improvements to Siri even if that's obviously the case.

They don't address it directly.

Instead, it's implied that Apple Intelligence will act as a sort of "systemwide Siri" that's going to utilize AI throughout iOS, including Siri.

But no, there are no improvements to Siri in iOS 18 if you don't have a device that supports Apple Intelligence.
 
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I'm certainly not one to apologize for Apple's obvious upselling schemes and product gaffes (case in point: my choice of username on this site poking fun at one of their worst accessory ideas ever) but this one actually passes the smell test for me. If you know anything about running complex machine learning models and AI logic entirely localized on device, it is VERY resource-intensive. Like there's no such thing as too much horsepower when it comes to this stuff. Apple was right to limit this tech to their highest tier mobile chips. If running on the A17 Pro is the difference between a "meh" experience riddled with longer wait times, lagging execution of commands, etc then that's ultimately more of a disservice to the end user than it is anything useful.
 
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I'm a huge Apple fan but this 15 Pro AI limit really rubs me the wrong way. I bought a family member a regular 15 to future proof them and to insure they get all the great iOS updates for a few years only to find out the phone is basically deprecated not even a year later.
 
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IchabodCricket said:
I've yet to see anywhere what TOPS means directly when it comes to what you can do. I know what the definition is (trillion operation per second), but not how it applies to the end user.

Can I sit down at a machine and see/feel the difference when using something capable of 11 vs 17 TOPS? What can I do, specifically, with 17 over 11?

It sounds like MHz wars all over again.
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Well the clue is in the acronym, operations per second as you said. Why would A16 have omitted any additional hardware features developed for M1, released 3-years prior?
 
I don’t think it is a scheme to force people to buy new iPhones. But I do think Apple has always been stingy with RAM. The iPhones and iPad Air with 1GB RAM were not great experiences. Hopefully Apple Intelligence requirements will force Apple to give new devices enough RAM.
 
tomacintosh said:
Well the clue is in the acronym, operations per second as you said. Why would A16 have omitted any additional hardware features developed for M1, released 3-years prior?
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Memory constraints. All M1 devices have at least 8 GB of RAM maybe? iPhones do not. Curious if the iPad M1s all have 8GB of RAM?
 
tomacintosh said:
Well the clue is in the acronym, operations per second as you said. Why would A16 have omitted any additional hardware features developed for M1, released 3-years prior?
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Because an M1 in your phone would have half the battery life of an A16?
 
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azentropy said:
It is absolutely about the RAM.
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100%. And I don't understand why they have to beat around the bush.

The gate for access to Apple Intelligence is:
  • Any Mac or MacBook with M1 or newer. They all have 8GB RAM so not much to figure out.
  • An iPhone or iPad with 8GB RAM. That means iPhones Pro/Max 15, iPad M1 or newer, and iPad Air M1 or newer.
Knowing this is mainly about RAM, I struggle to grasp why a high-end >16GB Intel Mac or MacBook Pro would struggle to run Apple Intelligence.

But then again, I'm not Apple's marketing team or shareholders. I'm sure they have a great explanation. 🤑
 
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ApplesAreSweet&Sour said:
They aren't positioning iOS 18 as having improvements to Siri even if that's obviously the case.

They don't address it directly.

Instead, it's sort of implied that Apple Intelligence will act as a sort of "systemwide Siri" that's going to utilize AI throughout iOS, including Siri.

But no, there are no improvements to Siri in iOS 18 if you don't have a device that supports Apple Intelligence.
Click to expand...
I’m still confused as to what exactly is Apple Intelligence and what’s not. Presumably older devices will have the current Sir interface. But what about other things they showed off in apps like mail? What about math notes? Are those things just not surfaced in the UI on devices that aren’t compatible?
 
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herok said:
I don't care about the generative super-duper fancy AI features. For now, I just want my dumb Siri to get better at understanding my simple requests.
Stuff like:
"Turn on TV and turn off corner light" (combining 2 actions)
"Close the blinds every day at 2pm this week"
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Buy your mom an iPhone
You need Apple Intelligence for Siri to get the basics.

It's really all or nothing: If you don't already have one, you upgrade to a device that's compatible with Apple Intelligence or Siri remains dumb.
 
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HouseLannister said:
Apple knew the minimum spec for a feature that doesn't even enter beta until Fall 2024 when developing a phone to launch in Fall 2023? Heck, some parts of the iPhone 15 development probably started very shortly after the iPhone 14 shipped. So Apple knew all about LLM requirements in Fall 2022?

You're also complaining that Apple made a less expensive phone with cheaper parts. Of course they did. That's the whole point of a non-Pro phone--to make it more affordable.
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Presumably iPhone 16 will have 8GB RAM? But if 8 is the bare minimum then why not bump to 16? Is it hardware margins? Battery life? Both?
 
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ApplesAreSweet&Sour said:
They aren't positioning iOS 18 as having improvements to Siri even if that's obviously the case.

They don't address it directly.

Instead, it's sort of implied that Apple Intelligence will act as a sort of "systemwide Siri" that's going to utilize AI throughout iOS, including Siri.

But no, there are no improvements to Siri in iOS 18 if you don't have a device that supports Apple Intelligence.
Click to expand...

That’s unfortunate as I think millions of iPhone owners can do without AI, but simply want a smarter Siri.
 
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HouseLannister said:
Who said they have spent years on this?

GPT 4 and Google Bard came out in March 2023. I am positive Apple did not even start development until after that point, because there was no AI hype yet. Apple does not invent. They eye the market, figure out what the world is doing that they could do better, and then perfect it. That's been their MO for decades. Which is why everyone is saying they are so far behind.

Meanwhile, iPhone 15 development started in Fall 2022 after the iPhone 14 launched. No one was talking about AI in 2022.

There is no conspiracy here. Hardware and software development both take time and the calendar just doesn't line up.
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Craig - from the WWDC Keynote around the 1:06:40 mark: "This is a moment we've been working towards for a long time."

I guess if long is less than 1.5 years, then they get a pass for skimping on RAM - a spec that can probably bump fairly easy in the later stages of product development. OR they were not actually very forward thinking (1.5 years+) with their approach to AI. Again either way, customers pay.
 
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Rogifan said:
Presumably iPhone 16 will have 8GB RAM? But if 8 is the bare minimum then why not bump to 16? Is it hardware margins? Battery life? Both?
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I would love to have 16 GB in the Pro phone. Maybe we could get split-screen multitasking on the Pro Max then.
 
Krypton Deer said:
I think Joswiak means if Apple is trying to scheme everyone to upgrade hardware, Apple would only add Apple Intelligence to latest M3 (Pro/Max) MacBook. They think supporting older iPads/Macs vindicates them only putting 6GB ram in base iPhone 15, even though Apple knew LLM is coming this year.
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I'm pretty sure Apple hadn't started on Apple Intelligence when they locked down the specification for the iPhone 15.

The earliest they would have startet on this specifically was January 2023.
 
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