Some iOS 18 AI features will require the use of an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, or later

You probably know that Apple will be kicking off its AI initiative by giving us a preview of the iOS 18 update during the WWDC 2024 Keynote on June 10th. The excitement will really take place in September when the update starts to rollout to eligible iPhone users. This has already been called the biggest iOS update of all time and on Thursday we passed along the latest information about some of the changes you can expect from Siri in iOS 18.

One thing we expect to see in several apps including Messages, Notes, Safari, and Voice Memos is AI-based summaries of content that is on the screen. Apple is trying to have most AI tasks handled on-device for speed and privacy. Tasks that can’t be handled on-device will be sent to cloud-based servers powered by Apple’s M2 Ultra chip. One thing that you should know, according to Bloomberg, is that some on-device AI features will require the use of an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, or a later model.

Restricting some of the new AI features to the iPhone 15 Pro series might have something to do with the 3nm A17 Pro application processor (AP) which powers the 2023 Pro models. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, on the other hand, are equipped with the 4nm A16 Bionic AP. The Neural Engine on the A17 Pro, used to accelerate AI, is twice as fast as the one used by the A16 Bionic and can process up to 35 trillion operations per second.

Here’s the thing though. Unless you plan on signing up for the iOS 18 beta program to get a preview of Apple’s AI initiative, there is no reason to run out and purchase an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max if you are thinking about buying a new iPhone. If you own an iPhone 14 Pro series or older handset and are planning to upgrade or switch to iPhone, your best bet at this point is to wait for the 2024 iPhone 16 Pro or iPhone 16 Pro Max to be released because at around the same time, Apple will be pushing out the AI-laden iOS 18 update.

Until we get more information at WWDC 2024 on June 10th, we can’t be sure which AI features will be limited to the upcoming new iPhone 16 line. While all of the new 2024 iOS handsets are believed to be powered by a 3nm A18 chipset, it is believed that the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be equipped with a more capable A18 Pro chipset that will be able to handle more AI tasks.