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Apple Intelligence Isn't Driving iPhone Upgrades

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Apple Intelligence hasn't convinced people to buy an iPhone 16, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today. According to Kuo, a supply chain survey suggests Apple Intelligence is not pushing people to upgrade their devices.

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The delay between the Apple Intelligence introduction in June 2024 and a launch even after iPhone 16 models came out was a contributing factor, and Apple Intelligence "appeal has significantly declined" compared to cloud-based services like ChatGPT.

There is also no indication that Apple Intelligence will drive Services revenue, as Apple CEO Tim Cook said in December that Apple has never discussed charging for Apple Intelligence. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that Apple could start charging for Apple Intelligence in 2027 or beyond, but it remains to be seen if that will happen.

All in all, Kuo does not feel that Apple Intelligence is going to benefit Apple in terms of user upgrades or revenue, but there's some hope for the long-term prospects.
I'm not bearish on Apple Intelligence's long-term prospects; however, given the points discussed above, there is no evidence of Apple Intelligence's ability to benefit hardware replacement cycles or service business. As such, it should be cautious of potential downside risks created by earlier market over-optimism.
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Apple Intelligence was the main focus of iOS 18, but when the iPhone 16 models launched in September, there were no Apple Intelligence features available. Writing Tools and other capabilities came in the first update to iOS 18 in October, but Image Playground and Genmoji didn't roll out until December.

There are still Apple Intelligence features that have not been implemented, including major changes to Siri that are rumored to be coming in April.

A December survey suggested that many iPhone users feel that Apple Intelligence has added little or no value to their iPhone experience, though that sentiment could change as Apple Intelligence matures.

Article Link: Apple Intelligence Isn't Driving iPhone Upgrades
 
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https://www.macrumors.com/2025/01/10/apple-intelligence-not-driving-iphone-upgrades/
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That’s an easy reason why. A rather large portion of the population either don’t care about AI or are wary about AI. As an artist, I’m very anti AI due to so much of it trained on theft of intellectual property. And with so many people growing up on movies or stories where AI ends up turning evil, can you blame them for being wary? Even the people who were vaguely interested are starting to get worn out because it feels like AI is constantly being shoved down everyone’s throats by so many companies
 
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I7guy said:
I wouldn’t have bought the iPhone 16 for AI but the 16 is a solid upgrade for phones a few years old.
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So, basically like any other iPhone release. iPhone 16 is an incremental improvement over the previous year's iPhone, and a bigger improvement over earlier models. Apple Intelligence is pretty much irrelevant here.
 
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It certanly didn’t push me to upgrade. I thought about the 16, but decided to wait for the iPhone 17. My Mac (M2Pro) and iPad (M1) could run it but I have not activated Apple Intelligence and have no intention to. All I’ve seen are silly toys, and things I spacificly do NOT want on my computer systems.

DaveCummings said:
That’s an easy reason why. A rather large portion of the population either don’t care about AI or are wary about AI. As an artist, I’m very anti AI due to so much of it trained on theft of intellectual property.
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Same. I am an artist and writer and because of the explosion of ChatGPT and other systems hoovering up everything they could grab regardless of copyright, I had to pull all of my work off the web. Paintings, Graphics, Photography, Short Stories, Novels, Essays, everything. Even ended up cancelling my podcast series. I simply don’t dare put anything I care about out there, and talking to other artists and writers I know, others are doing the same. This year I’m going to be exploring ways of posting things securely. I’m just glad I’m not dependant on this for my livelihood.
 
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If the fantasy of AI potential can become reality, there's much to be enjoyed in AI and plenty about which to be excited (and some to fear or even be terrified). However, so much of it is what we used to call vapor: capabilities may be coming and may be great or they may take years to actually arrive and be great. Or the target of what is spun like it is just around the corner may not ever show (true vapor). Where's them flying cars? Where's that fusion reactor? Where's that interstellar travel? We humans are great at big imagination. AI seems like some of that right now. With countless billions (of dollars aggressively) buying the spin, the spin will be spun & spun & spun. 💰💰💰 And then either it actually delivers on so many monster promises or a reckoning (or three) will follow.

IMO: AI is catch-up Marketing messaging for Wall Street more than tangible, "wow" new kinds of functionality. I suspect not just Apple but the whole tech space will need years (at least) to flesh it all out and actually deliver the "wow" to the masses. In the meantime, baby steps may deliver baby wow... which is neither a bad thing, nor a must-have-this-right-now thing. As baby wow grows into child wow and then teenager wow and then adult wow, it may eventually deliver amazing usefulness towards being able to say "how did we ever get by without this..." and actually mean it.

In 2025, I think this cart is way out before the horse. But I also think there are several "somethings" there. In time, I think it will be impressive and probably essential but I wouldn't bet the farm on that being soon. For now, we still need the horse to pull the cart. And nothing wrong with that if that assessment applies: tech is notorious for spinning "tomorrow" early-to-way-early and then sometimes getting around to actually delivering it... and sometimes not.

I lean pessimistic about the short-term of AI but optimistic in the longer term. I wouldn't hang my hat on it in 2025 but 2030 or 2035 may make 2025 software seem like paper & pen... or not. Current AI is probably 8-bit color after years of amber monitors. 16-bit is a ways off and 32-bit way further still. But we're so dazzled with our 255 colors that fortunes are being made on words instead of tangible, useful "wow" functionality right now.

That's no defense, nor bash- just calling it as I see it myself today. Aiming (beyond) sky high and then coming up short can still yield a great result. And sometimes aiming high actually delivers. Maybe this becomes one of those luckier "big leap" times. Or not. TBD... probably several years from now at least.
 
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Bumped specs will help those on the fence with iPhone 13 on back, but Apple Intelligence isn’t going to get people to upgrade. AI is still hallucinating from all the information (and junk) people keep feeding it. I have it turned off on all my Apple devices since I didn’t use Copilot or any of the other ones out there.

It will take time. In my opinion, I think AI adoption will be spotty for about a decade.
 
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„Apple Intelligence“? Not ready yet, not delivered, underwhelming…

AI - the Artificial Intelligence of competitors really blows your mind. The integration into the OS, features like „Circle to search“ and more are cool. Gemini integration is nice.

MaybeApple didn‘t expect this, but Apple met my expectation a 100%. I was expecting the marketing buzzword „Apple Intelligence“ to fail terrible and to be the inferior version of true AI. Neither useful nor in a useable state.
 
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airwalk331 said:
Let’s be honest- “Apple Intelligence” isn’t driving anything.
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LUCKILY. RIP Apple Car, to the relief of anyone who tried to generate a kitten with only one tail in Image Playground.

ThinkDifferentTim said:
Apple AI only in english and no EU. Cant event test whats not driving in Germany.
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You can try it on a Mac. You will be thoroughly unimpressed.

efktd said:
I've probably created 1 AI emoji?
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PROFIT!!!! – Apple
 
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