Apple’s AI will soon be coming to beta versions of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, but only a small portion of existing iPhone owners will be able to try it. Reason? To do this, you’ll need an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max. The decision does not seem arbitrary at all.

NPU is key. Unless you have one of these two models, you will not be able to access the functions offered by Apple with its new artificial intelligence system. The company explained that to benefit from Apple Intelligence, it is necessary to have chips with a sufficiently powerful NPU (Neural Processing Unit). The M1 and later models have this power, but among Apple’s mobile chips, only the latest A17 Pro has this capacity, according to the company.

Why not the previous ones? Apple doesn’t explain exactly why you can’t take advantage of these options on the iPhone 15/Plus, for example. The A16 Bionic are truly remarkable chips, but there probably isn’t enough headroom for the AI ​​functions to run smoothly, and Apple has opted to avoid complaints about disappointing experiences here. The other option, of course, is that they want to use this obligation as an argument to sell more iPhones in the future.

Your iPhone 13 is no longer useful. The funny thing is that iPhones can normally access ChatGPT and other chatbots because everything runs in the cloud. This suggests that Apple could directly enable queries on its servers for less powerful iPhones that cannot run the native model. As analyst Michael Gartenberg noted in Wired, “I suspect this is Apple’s opportunity to tell you that the iPhone 13 is no longer good enough.”

You either replace your iPhone or do nothing. This means that those who want to access Apple Intelligence options will either have to purchase the iPhone 15 Pro/Max or wait for future models from the company to appear from now on. If the same trend is followed in recent years, the future iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus will feature the Apple A17 Pro, allowing even these “base” models to access these functions.

Sales will increase. That’s according to Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, who explained that these AI options “should change Cupertino’s growth trajectory: They will drive an AI-powered iPhone update cycle, starting with iPhone 16.”

But not everywhere. The deployment of these functions will be gradual. They will initially only be available for users in the US and in English, meaning the lead generation may not be as high. Unless users in the rest of the world also purchase Apple Intelligenge with the expectation that it will quickly reach other regions and languages. Apple didn’t specify when it would do this, but confirmed that that’s definitely the plan.

perfect moment. If this prediction comes true, it will be right when Apple needs it most. iPhone sales have stagnated in recent months and took an unusual hit in the first quarter of the year. As the company officials explained, 10% fewer iPhones were sold compared to the same period of the previous year; This is the biggest drop in sales since the summer of 2020.

AI to the rescue. The arguments for replacing mobile phones have not been this strong for a long time. Manufacturers, who made almost no changes in their designs, mostly hid behind new processors and cameras. People may be able to extend the life of their smartphones, but AI may now become that “perfect app” that can boost sales again. This is certainly what Apple is hoping for.

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