The iPhone 16 officially goes on sale on Friday, but for those who get in early, it will arrive with a fundamental compromise baked in.
Simply put, this is not the iPhone 16 that was promised. Tim Cook said it will be “the first iPhone built for Apple Intelligence.” But that “for” is key: the phone won't actually have the AI features that were the most talked about feature at launch.
This feels like a turning point for Apple. When it comes to new phone features, the company isn't necessarily known for being first to market or jumping on the bandwagon, but it is known for being the best. But that's not the case here. Apple is being forced to jump on the AI hype and dive into untried territory.
Apple has previously talked about the Apple Intelligence Suite twice: first at its WWDC developer conference in June when it announced the AI suite, and again at the launch of the iPhone 16 in September.
But in reality, the company lags far behind competitors like Google and Microsoft, and startups like OpenAI and Anthropic, in terms of delivering real-world features.
The company's first set of AI tools, announced and released as a developer beta, includes a rewriting tool, summarizing articles and notifications, erasing objects in photos, transcribing audio, and more. Many of these features already exist on the market, and Apple believes its bet on privacy — promising that usage data won't be shared with other users or other tech companies — will be enough to lure buyers.
Strictly speaking, the product and feature gap isn't as dramatic as you might think — or at least that's what Apple would say: The iPhone goes on sale on September 20, and Apple promises that the AI features will start rolling out in October.
However, only a handful of features will be available at the time, and they will only be available in US English (remember that the company relies heavily on international markets, with North America accounting for more than half of iPhone sales).
And for more complex AI features, we'll have to wait: The company plans to roll out features like visual search and Image Playground starting next month, and will also begin rolling out additional language support in December, starting with English localization, with other languages coming in 2025.
For those looking for new AI features, an iPhone 16 isn't necessarily required: the company has already confirmed that the platform will also be available on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max.
So, if Apple Intelligence is truly a game-changer as Apple promises, it's fair to wonder whether gaps and delays in the rollout could make users hesitant to upgrade. Or, it could lead to a decline in sales as consumers adopt a wait-and-see attitude.
As my colleague Sarah pointed out, Apple's AI features could become even more useful if third-party developers were able to fully integrate them into their own apps. It's a nice thing to consider, but whether that happens remains to be seen for the iPhone 17.
And maybe that's really the point here: Apple is building products for long-term opportunities, and for the first time, it feels like it's asking buyers to take that plunge.