Apple will kickstart its annual September event at 6pm tonight, where CEO Tim Cook and colleagues are widely tipped to announce a slew of new gadgets, including the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, Apple AirPods 4, and Apple Watch Series 10, to name just a few. As well as discontinuing 7 high-profile products, the Californian company is expected to confirm the release date for iOS 18 — the next major operating system upgrade for iPhone.
Apple offered an early glimpse of this blockbuster update during its developer conference earlier this summer.
iOS 18 introduces more customisation than ever before, with iPhone owners able to reposition the app icons anywhere on the homscreen, adjust the tint to match the wallpaper, or switch to a new Dark Mode to remove white backgrounds from all applications
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iOS 18 will offer greater customisation, offering the ability to hide applications from all corners of the operating system, change the colour of app icons, and position them anywhere on-screen to make room for your wallpaper. It also includes the "biggest ever" redesign to the default Photos app, which ditches the tabs that run along the bottom of the screen to consolidate everything into a single pane.
And that's not all, Messages will offer the ability to schedule messages for the first time, while Apple will also support sending texts and reactions to messages via satellite, so you'll be able to stay in touch without Wi-Fi or mobile signal.
iOS 18 adds the ability to lock specific apps with a Face ID scan, so you can pass your iPhone to a friend, family member, or colleague while keeping parts of your device — like the Health app, for example — locked.
Apple has also built a brand-new Passwords app from the ground-up to secure and manage your login details for various websites, subscriptions, and applications. It also supports Passkeys — an alternative to traditional alpha-numeric passwords with complicated combos of capital and lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers.
But the single biggest shake-up coming to iOS 18 is Apple Intelligence.
With its strong emphasis on privacy, Apple wants its Artificial Intelligence (AI) tasks to be processed on-device wherever possible. Unlike rival solutions like ChatGPT-4o and Google Gemini, it will use the Neural Engine built into Apple's custom-designed chipsets to crunch the numbers.
This decision should also make everything feel faster, since there's no need to wait for information to be sent to servers, processed, and then beamed back.
When Apple's own Apple Intelligence models can't handle a specific voice (or typed) request, then it will suggest sending the information to ChatGPT-4o from OpenAI. If you grant permission to share the information with ChatGPT (it will be deleted when the request has been processed) then it can process the task within the same Siri window APPLE PRESS OFFICE Apple Intelligence will be completely free at launch, with iPhone owners able to use all of the new features coming to iOS 18 as many times as they want without incurring a charge. This is a different approach from many of Apple's biggest competitors, with Microsoft already charging £19 per month to access similar AI functionality in apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, andChatGPT offering an optional paid subscription to increase the functionality, get faster responses, and other bonuses.
There are even rumours that Google is looking to charge for a number of features under the umbrella of its Gemini assistant — something that Amazon could be forced to do with its Alexa-powered Echo speakers too.
Apple Intelligence, which can tap into the latest-and-greatest ChatGPT large-language model at no cost, might seem like a complete bargain in comparison... but there is a catch.
Since everything is handled on device, you'll need an iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max, which are the only handsets in the Apple line-up with an A17 Pro system-on-a-chip. Undoubtedly, new iPhone models with speedy processors capable of handling all these on-device Apple Intelligence tasks will be announced at the Apple Event this evening, which has been teased with the tagline It's Glowtime — a not-so-subtle hint at the new Apple Intelligence interface.
Photos on iOS has automatically crafted short films, known as Memories, based on trips, people, or locations for some time. However, Apple Intelligence lets you list criteria for a bespoke film — including who should make an appearance, whether it should start or end with a selfie, and much more — and watch the complex on-device models build your film in real-time
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But for those who don't want to preorder a new iPhone, only those with an iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max in their pocket will be able to take advantage of the full suite of Apple Intelligence features with a software upgrade.
Apple Intelligence is an umbrella term for a slew of new features, including the ability to proofread your emails, adjust the tone of your writing, summarise lengthy articles into bullet points, new photo editing tools, and the ability for Siri to adjust settings on your device for you.
Here's a rundown of some of the highlights that Apple previewed during its WWDC keynote —
Apple Intelligence will offer writing tips, suggest replies to emails and other correspondence, and summarise lengthy notes and webpages in the blink of an eye... with the majority processed on-device
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While the number of devices capable of supporting all of the Apple Intelligence features coming from Apple is pretty small at the moment — with millions set to miss out, the total number of iPhone models capable of installing iOS 18 in a few days is pretty sizeable. In fact, if you're using iOS 17 on your iPhone at the moment, then you'll be able to upgrade to iOS 18 free of charge.
The full list of iPhone models compatible with iOS 17, and therefore iOS 18, are as follows...
Many of these same Apple Intelligence features will also be coming to iPadOS 18 too. There's a long list of iPad models capable of updating to the new operating system — but like with iOS 18, Apple Intelligence features will be reserved for those models with an M1, M2, M3, or M4 processor.
Like the A17 Pro system-on-a-chip, these M-branded processors have a Neural Engine capable of crunching through the complex models needed to power these features.
