APPLE’S iOS 18 – the software that will arrive hand-in-hand with the iPhone 16 – is slated to be the ‘biggest update in company history’.
It will be jam-packed with features powered by artificial intelligence (AI), as well as a much smarter version of Siri, according to reports.
In a new report today, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said Apple sees iOS 18 as “one of the biggest iOS updates — if not the biggest — in the company’s history.”
“Apple’s head of software engineering, Craig Federighi, told employees last year that the OS — codenamed Crystal — will have ambitious changes all around,” Gurman reports.
One of the most anticipated updates in iOS 18 is a new-and-improved Siri.
Gurman expects Apple to inject its beloved voice assistant with what’s known as generative AI.
This is the same AI technology that’s used in the likes of ChatGPT that allows the chatbot to respond to questions like it is a human.
It means Siri – like ChatGPT – will be trained how to communicate with large language models, which include a billion or more pieces of language data.
Generative AI technology “should improve how both Siri and the Messages app can field questions and auto-complete sentences,” according to Gurman, who has a strong track history with Apple leaks.
A separate report from The Information said this feature is expected to be released in an iPhone software update coming in 2024, which would likely be iOS 18.
Apple has also reportedly explored generative AI features for other apps, including Apple Music, Pages, Keynote, and Xcode.
In Apple Music, AI can be used to create “auto-generated playlists”.
In October, Apple made the surprise bulletin that RCS Support is coming to iPhones sometime in 2024.
RCS, or Rich Communication Services, is the successor to SMS and MMS.
It will bring a number of iMessage-style features to texts between iPhone and Android users, including:
These modern features are already available for blue-bubble iMessage users in iPhone-to-iPhone conversations.
But they are not available when texting Android devices from an iPhone.
iOS 18 is expected to be announced at Apple’s WWDC, which typically occurs in the first or second week of June.
The timeline from announcement to release varies.
After its official unveiling, the sparkly new operating system be released to developers for beta testing.
A public beta will likely be released in July 2024, followed by a release to the general public in September.
When it goes live in September is another mystery.
But here’s a rundown of recent iOS release dates for inspiration:
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