iOS 18: These iPhones will likely not support some AI features

Apple is planning an AI overhaul in iOS 18, but some of the new features are unlikely to work on older iPhones, even if they appear on the hardware compatibility list for the new operating system.

Apple’s initial AI roadmap for iOS 18 is said to come in two parts: basic AI features that will be processed on-device, and more advanced capabilities that will require connection to Apple’s servers.

And at the heart of these features is a redesigned Siri. To this end, Apple engineers had to redesign the core ‌Siri‌ software using large language models (LLMs), the algorithm that powers generative AI.

according to BloombergMark Gurman This will allow Siri to do things like open specific documents, organize notes into folders, delete an email, summarize an article, email a web link, and more. Apple reportedly plans to use artificial intelligence to analyze what people do on their devices to enable these features‌ automatically.

Apple’s LLM software is expected to handle what are considered core AI tasks, and will be entirely on-device. In other words, the model is run by the iPhone’s processor, not in the cloud. It’s not clear what the underlying task parameters are, but LLM reportedly includes code that determines whether a request can be processed on the device or requires Apple’s servers.

According to GormanHowever, the AI ​​capabilities on the device will largely require an iPhone 15 Pro or later to work. Meanwhile, rumors suggest that iOS 18 will be compatible with the same iPhone models as iOS 17. Combining the two reports, we should expect the next iPhone models to run iOS 18, but lack support for some of the on-device AI features from Apple:

iPadOS 18 and macOS 15 are expected to share many of the same AI features, and Gorman said Macs and iPads will need at least an M1 chip to get on-device AI capabilities. In other words, Apple’s silicon-powered Macs are a requirement for on-device AI in macOS 15 (excluding Intel Macs), while anything older than the fifth-generation iPad Pro won’t support on-device AI features in iPadOS 18. .

Although it’s not entirely clear what hardware factor is the primary requirement for Apple’s on-device AI technology, it’s worth noting that the standard (unsupported) iPhone 15 models have 6GB of RAM, while the supported Pro models have On 8 GB of RAM. Likewise, all Apple Silicon iPads and Macs come with at least 8GB of storage. Even when scaled down to narrow use cases, LLM programs require a significant amount of working memory due to the sheer number of parameters involved, so this may be where Apple faces the hardware limitations of its devices.