Justin Sullivan
Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) new artificial intelligence system will be rolled out to customers by October, a few weeks after the release of the new iPhone and iPad software in September, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.
The iPhone maker split the Apple Intelligence rollout from the initial launch of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 partly due to concerns over the stability of the new AI features.
But Apple (AAPL) plans to give software developers access to Apple Intelligence for early testing as soon as this week through iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1 betas, to fix bugs and ensure a smooth launch.
This would be an unusual move as the company doesn’t typically allow previews of follow-up updates this early, before the public launch of the software’s initial version.
Apple (AAPL) unveiled its huge in-house AI bet at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, marking its official entry into the AI race, and planned to debut the system as part of the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 launch.
Apple Intelligence is set to include features such as Siri revamp and integration of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. But some features will likely be missing in the initial rollout, with all features expected to be launched through iOS 18 updates over the end of 2024 and through the first half of 2025.
As for Mac computers, the AI system will come with in-house chips as part of macOS Sequoia. It is also in development to be added to the Vision Pro later on.
But the stakes are high, as the company will need to prove that Apple Intelligence can match up in performance against Google’s (GOOG) (GOOGL) Gemini and Microsoft’s (MSFT) Copilot, according to Seeking Alpha analyst Nexus Research.
