Is Apple Intelligence An Intelligent Reason To Upgrade To IPhone 16?

At WWDC 2024, Apple finally joined the AI club and launched Apple Intelligence which brings a suite of AI features to iPhones, iPads, and Macs. While Apple Intelligence features are pretty interesting, the fact that they will be exclusive to recent devices is quite disheartening. Only the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, upcoming iPhone 16 models, and M-series iPads & Macs are compatible with Apple Intelligence. Apple’s AI venture supports a wide range of iPads and Macs compared to iPhones. At first, it was believed that Apple had taken an AI-crafted way to convince us to upgrade our iPhones. However, Apple then shot down those theories with its own reasons and explanations, some of which made sense. I still feel disappointed that Apple didn’t have the foresight to add enough RAM to modern iPhones to support its AI features.

The limited compatibility of Apple Intelligence brings a question- is Apple Intelligence a worthy reason to upgrade to iPhone 16? Well, the answer depends on your budget and whether you find the new AI features useful.

I’ll admit it, I’m an Apple stan and have already invested in the system. I own an iPhone 14 Pro, M2 iPad Pro, MacBook Air M1, AirPods Pro 2, and Apple Watch Series 7. I don’t usually upgrade my iPhone every year, rather I do it when I feel the new iPhone would be a ‘true upgrade’ in every sense. In my opinion, Apple Intelligence is a big reason to upgrade to a new iPhone, but it shouldn’t be the ONLY reason. I agree that Apple Intelligence has a lot of potential and it may change the way how we interact with our devices, but also I’m kinda skeptical if the first iteration will deliver a game-changing experience. Before you disagree, hear me out!

Apple Intelligence Features I Like

Unarguably, Apple Intelligence brings some exciting AI features and experiences for iPhone, iPad, and Mac users. Amongst all the Apple Intelligence features available today, my top three favorite features are the Writing Tools, Phone Call Recording, and Summarize feature in Safari.

Writing Tools

Being a content writer, I find the Apple Intelligence Writing Tools really helpful. I can proofread my articles to get rid of any typos, summarize a long text into key points, quickly turn numbers into tables, and concise texts for my social media posts. Also, I can use Writing Tools to sound more professional or friendly, depending on the need of the situation.

Phone Call Recording

If you’ve been using an iPhone, you would surely feel the absence of an official or free method to record calls on iPhones. Finally, Apple Intelligence brings call recording to iPhones. On an Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone, you can tap on the little record button in the upper left corner when starting a phone call. Also, the recorded calls are saved in the Notes app, and you can get a quick summary generated from that transcript. This has been one of the long-requested iPhone features.

Summarise Web Pages

Finally, the Summarize feature is a savior in situations where I don’t want to go through lengthy articles. I feel it’s a productive feature. The summaries generated by AI can help me run through the contents of a webpage, news, email, or the like, without having to dig in.

Apart from these, I’m damn excited about the new version of Siri that’s more capable and allows for a more natural conversation. I can’t wait to try the all-new Siri that can understand the personal context and reach across my files and apps to make my life easier. Also, I was waiting to try out the AI-powered Clean Up tool in the Photos app. While Apple added it in the iOS 18.1 Developer Beta 3, it didn’t perform well in our testing. In fact, the Clean-Up tool was a disappointment. Since iOS 18 and Apple Intelligence, features are currently in beta, they might not perform well. I believe Apple will offer more polished features in the stable version.

Apple Intelligence Feels Incomplete

Apple Intelligence is a significant leap in on-device AI capabilities that brings more advanced machine learning to our phones, but it feels incomplete, at the moment. With the iOS 18.1 developer beta, we saw the first set of AI features, but they have been decent so far. I like the Writing Tools and other features I mentioned above, but they aren’t revolutionary.

Also, Apple has been rolling out its AI features in phases. More advanced AI features like Siri with ChatGPT integration, Genmoji, Image Playground, Priority Notifications, and more are yet to be included in Beta. Some of these best Apple Intelligence features aren’t even going to be a part of the first iOS 18.1 release in September. Apple might launch them in October or they might be delayed until later in 2024.

That’s not all. Even if we see more AI capabilities on the iPhone in late 2024, Apple’s personal assistant may need some more time to get ready. Yes, some of the teased Siri features like onscreen awareness, understanding personal context, and enhanced app capabilities might not be available until 2025. That means you’ll have to wait for quite a long time to unlock the true potential of Apple Intelligence.

For starters, Apple’s homegrown LLM uses approximately 3 billion parameters. While it sounds great, it’s tiny compared to the hundreds of billions of parameters of GPT-4 and even 8-billion parameters of Meta Llama 3. Of course, Apple Intelligence will evolve and improve significantly in the coming years. By 2025, we may see more advanced integration of Apple Intelligence across the entire ecosystem, which will not include iPhones, iPads, and Macs, but also Apple Watch, Apple TV, HomePod, and Vision Pro.

iPhone 16 Hardware Leaks

The iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus and older models have only 6GB of RAM or less. As a result, they aren’t capable enough to meet the computational demands of Apple Intelligence. Thanks to the 8GB of onboard RAM in the iPhone 15 Pro models, they can run Apple’s AI features. To make the entire iPhone 16 lineup compatible with AI, the vanilla iPhone 16 models are likely to feature the A18 processor with 8GB of RAM. On the other hand, the iPhone 16 Pro models might pack the A18 Pro chipset with up to 12GB of RAM. Interestingly, despite hardware upgrades, Apple might not increase the prices of the base models. However, the iPhone 16 Pro might start at $1,099 ($100 up from the 15 Pro).

It’s worth knowing that apart from the memory, AI processing requires a lot of power and additional resources. So, Apple should make notable advancements in battery and power management technology. Otherwise, you might have to charge your AI iPhones more often. This can trigger issues like abnormal battery drain, reduced battery lifespan, and other performance-related issues. That means Apple has to make a lot of changes. Since the iPhone 16 will be the first generation AI iPhone, we’ll have to see if it addresses the performance concerns.

I Won’t Give up My iPhone 14 Pro Only for Apple Intelligence

Despite the hype around Apple Intelligence, I won’t upgrade to the iPhone 16 only for its AI capabilities. Apple Intelligence features are in their initial stage and are still evolving so I can’t expect it to deliver a game-changing experience as touted in Apple’s WWDC 2024. That said, I can still upgrade to the iPhone 16 if Apple can convince me with some mind-blowing additions and improvements like front camera upgrades, an ungraded display with an edge-to-edge experience, a dramatic performance boost, and a ‘capable’ Capture Button. Also, I’ll be overjoyed to see an iPhone Ultra, iPhone Air, iPhone Slim, or whatever else Apple plans to call its new iPhone member next year.

Sadly, the upcoming iPhone 16 series isn’t expecting to bring any remarkable upgrades. Of course, we’ll see a brand-new Capture Button, certain camera upgrades across the iPhone 16 lineup, and other improvements here & there. However, none of them excites me much, except for the Capture Button which I believe will be a useful addition and will change the way how we click pictures on our iPhones. That being said, I feel my iPhone 14 Pro has everything that matters to me in a smartphone. It has a stunning 120Hz ProMotion display with Dynamic Island, a fantastic rear camera, premium looks, and a solid battery. Had I been using an older iPhone like the 12 series, my thoughts would be completely different.

Contrary to the iPhone 16 series, the iPhone 17 leaks are much more appealing to me. So, I think I would skip the iPhone 16 and might buy an iPhone 17 Pro or the iPhone 17 Slim when it arrives next year. As far as Apple Intelligence features are concerned, I can try them on my M2 iPad Pro or my M1 MacBook Air for the time being. And, when Apple is ready to deliver a life-changing experience with its Apple Intelligence System along with notable upgrades on its new iPhone series, I’ll consider upgrading my iPhone.

Although I’m an Apple superfan and a long-time iPhone user, I’m against upgrading just for the sake of an upgrade. So, I’ll happily hold onto my iPhone 14 Pro for another year for two reasons. First, my iPhone 14 Pro is working perfectly fine and hasn’t reached that annoyance level. Thankfully, I bought the 256GB model so I still have ample storage space left. Second, and most importantly, the upcoming iPhone 16 doesn’t seem to have many compelling new upgrades, except for some AI moves.

Who Should Upgrade to iPhone 16?

It’s not that an iPhone 16 won’t be a worthy upgrade. Of course, the new model with bring some extra features and improvements over the predecessors. If you’re using a super-old iPhone 11, iPhone 12, or even the iPhone 13 models, it’s worth upgrading to iPhone 15 Pro or upcoming iPhone 16 models. You’ll get to experience a whole set of new features, hardware upgrades, and those shiny Apple Intelligence features.

So, if you were already planning to get yourself a new iPhone anyway, a newer model would be a wise decision. You can go for an iPhone 16 model or save some bucks with last year’s iPhone 15 Pro variants. Also, if you’re someone who upgrades his iPhone every year, you would have all the reasons to splurge on the new model anyway.

Are you planning to upgrade to iPhone 16 only for Apple Intelligence? Or, are you also happy with your current iPhone and would skip the iPhone 16? Don’t forget to share your views in the comments below.