news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

cook holding iphone 15 pro

phoenix.com technology news: on september 9, beijing time, apple is about to release the new generation of iphone 16 series phones. however, mark gurman, a well-known reporter for bloomberg who follows apple news, poured cold water on it. he wrote on sunday,the appearance design of iphone 16 has not changed much compared with the previous generation. the various functions of the highly anticipated ai system need to be launched in stages., unable to create a "super cycle" to drive the hot sales of iphone 16 upgrades. in contrast,next year’s iphone 17 is more promising.

here is gurman's full article:

in recent days, apple has decided to delay the launch of more highly anticipated ai features, indicating that apple's ai strategy will take time to work.

however, some analysts still hope that apple intelligence features will trigger a long-awaited "super cycle" for the iphone 16, or a wave of upgrades after pent-up demand. their reasoning: consumers are now excited about ai, and many have put off upgrading their phones for several years.

but reality is that an iphone supercycle is unlikely this year, in part because of macroeconomic factors: china’s smartphone market remains weak, and many other consumers around the world are budget-conscious.

the bigger problem may be attributed to the phone itself. first, the new iphones look almost identical to last year's models. sure, there will be some small camera upgrades and other new features on the iphone 16, but nothing is more enticing than a new design to entice consumers to upgrade. this year, we won't get any of that.

then there’s the question of when ai will be available. apple intelligence is set to be a major highlight of monday’s iphone 16 event. but it’s becoming increasingly clear that consumers will have to wait a while before they can experience the best features.

here are three concerns i have about apple’s ai:

apple intelligence is not yet complete. the initial version will lack many of the features apple announced in june, including chatgpt.

apple intelligence is not available in the european union, a key region for apple that covers italy, france, spain, sweden and germany. it is also not ready to enter another important overseas market: china.

while ai is an exciting new field for tech enthusiasts, the vast majority of consumers are not well-versed in it. many of them don’t even understand why they need apple intelligence. it will take apple months to explain the benefits of this technology.

people queue up to buy iphones outside apple's flagship store in new york

even if all goes well, the rollout of apple intelligence will be slow and phased. the iphone 16 won’t even come with these features when it goes on sale later this month. they will begin rolling out as part of the ios 18.1 system update in october.

the beta of ios 18.1 provides a polished preview of the ai ​​features apple is set to launch next month. new features include summarizing notifications and web page content, tools to improve writing, and a way to remove people or objects from images. you'll also get automatic recording for phone calls, and ai will prioritize important emails in the mail app.

openai’s chatgpt chatbot wasn’t going to be integrated into apple intelligence until later this year, and all the big new siri features weren’t going to appear until next year. but now, more features are being delayed.

apple has decided to postpone its new image generation features to ios 18.2 (rather than 18.1), which is scheduled to be released in december this year, including the image playground app and the genmoji feature, which uses ai to generate emoji based on input text.

this fragmented approach to feature rollouts means apple’s ai platform is unlikely to gain enough traction to drive mass upgrades this year. instead, apple will have to highlight changes to the phone itself, including a new camera button and the introduction of action buttons to lower-end models.

by the time the next iphone is released in the fall of 2025, apple should be in the right place at the right time. by then, apple intelligence will be more complete and available in more regions around the world. in addition, the iphone will have a real upgrade driver: a brand new design.

all in all:don’t believe the hype about the iphone 16 super cycle, but you can start looking forward to the iphone 17 super cycle next year.(author/xiao yu)

for more first-hand news, please download the phoenix news client and subscribe to phoenix technology. if you want to read in-depth reports, please search "phoenix technology" on wechat.