"Is Apple Intelligence only coming to iPhone 16" is a question I often get as a tech journalist on the Apple beat. The quick answer is no.
Apple Intelligence, revealed at WWDC 2024 (an annual Apple conference and livestream that reveals the company's newest software developments), is the tech giant's new suite of AI tools. Apple Intelligence includes a new-and-improved Siri, Writing Tools (for adjusting the tone of your texts and emails), summarized notifications, call recording, the Clean Up tool (Apple's answer to Google's Magic Eraser feature), and more.
You can actually test some of these features as we speak, but you'll need to download the iOS 18.1 developer beta. (If you want to test it, please back up your iPhone; betas are known to be a little rough-around-the-edges.) Keep in mind, though, there are some Apple Intelligence tools you can't test yet, including Genmoji (AI-generated emoji).
However, only select iPhone devices support this early testing phase of Apple Intelligence — and those same devices will be the only phones that will officially support Apple Intelligence when it lands later this year.
Apple Intelligence is, indeed, coming to iPhone 16, including the iPhone 16 base model, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
However, Apple Intelligence is also coming to the iPhone 15 Pro models (i.e., iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max). To reiterate, Apple Intelligence is only coming to the following iPhone models:
iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 16
iPhone 16 Plus
iPhone 16 Pro
iPhone 16 Pro Max
Apple Intelligence requires certain robust internals, including sufficient memory (i.e., at least 8GB of RAM) and a zippy neural engine, an internal unit that's responsible for AI calculations and processing machine-learning algorithms. If you want to hear it from the horse's mouth, in an interview with Chinese YouTube personality Geekerwan, Apple SVP of Hardware Technologies Johny Srouji said the following:
"We evaluate different configurations for computation, memory bandwidth, and capacity to ensure the best performance. Apple Intelligence was a key factor in our decision to increase the RAM to 8GB.”
The entry-level iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, for example, have 6GB of RAM, which is 2GB short of the requirement for Apple Intelligence support.
The 8GB of RAM added to the iPhone 15 Pro models, as well as the entire iPhone 16 lineup, will also benefit high-end mobile gaming, according to Srouji.
As such, if you want to enjoy Apple's new suite of AI tools, and you don't have a "Pro" iPhone 15, you'll have to purchase an iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max — or pre-order one of the new iPhone 16 models.
Apple Intelligence is expected to roll out some time in October.
