Apple unveiled its much-anticipated plans for AI. But it won’t be coming to Europe anytime soon.
ADVERTISEMENTFrom its glitzy California event full of colourful image projections, Apple unveiled a host of its latest technologies, including the new iPhone 16 which would be the company’s first model built for generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).
While the new phone lineup headlined Monday's showcase, the tech giant also shared updates to its smartwatch and AirPod lineups.
Here are the key moments from the event in case you missed it.
iPhone 16, Apple’s new AI handset
The iPhone 16 “has been designed for Apple Intelligence from the ground up,” CEO Tim Cook said during Monday's event.
The biggest upgrade to the iPhone hardware is that the iPhone 16 has a camera button on the outside of the handset, giving users access to “visual intelligence,” Craig Federighi, the senior vice president of software engineering, said on Monday.
It is an example of how AI could be used; after clicking the camera button, you could, for instance, point the camera at a bar, restaurant, or landmark and get instant reviews or information about the place.
Other uses of AI include searching for images in your library by describing them, creating custom emojis, summarising emails and prioritising notifications.
Apple Intelligence will also upgrade Apple's virtual assistant Siri to get it to better understand requests and give it some awareness of on-screen actions taking place on the phone, hopefully making it more useful.
How much is the iPhone 16 and when is it available?
The iPhone 16 comes in two versions, the iPhone 16, which retails from €969, and the iPhone 16 Pro, which starts at €1,229.
They are available to preorder from September 13 and in stores from September 20.
The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max will also offer slightly bigger displays and feature variants of the powerful A18 chip, which gives Apple the computing power its devices need to run AI functions.
There is also a bigger boost to battery life and the performance is more powerful and efficient due to the A18 chip.
The AI smartphone race
What sets Apple apart from what's being offered by rivals Samsung and Google? It is trying to preserve its longtime commitment to privacy by tailoring its AI so that most of its functions are processed on the device itself instead of at remote data centres.
When a task requires a connection to a data centre, Apple promises it will be done in a tightly controlled way that ensures no personal data is stored remotely.
Most of Apple’s AI functions will roll out as part of a free software update to iOS 18, the operating system that will power the iPhone 16.
ADVERTISEMENTWill it come to Europe?
It will be available in the US in English, and will quickly expand to include localised English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom in December, with additional language support - such as Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish - coming next year.
But Apple has not yet announced plans to launch in Europe due to regulatory concerns. In June, Apple cited its worries over not being compliant with Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Apple Watch upgrades
The Apple Watch Series 10 was also unveiled at the ‘Glowtime’ event on Monday, featuring a larger, and brighter, wide-angle OLED display that will allow users to better view the watch at an angle.
But Apple focused much of its presentation on the device's ability to detect signs of sleep apnea.
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The new device is also being offered in a titanium finish for the first time, joining a long-time trend in the watch industry of offering a tougher, more lightweight, and perceived higher-quality, alternative to traditional materials.
The Series 10 watch starts at €449 and will be available on September 20.
Airpods lean toward being a listening device
The new AirPods 4 series will come with an upgraded chip for better audio quality and will feature more active noise cancellation.
If you frequently lose your earbuds, the new AirPods will also play a sound when you locate them through the Find My app.
ADVERTISEMENTIn a medically-focused update to the AirPods Pro 2, Apple said it will upgrade the devices so they can act as an over-the-counter hearing aid.
A free software update will provide the upgrade and also include options to help protect hearing and the ability to administer a clinical-grade hearing test.
The AirPod 4 model costs €149, while the version with active noise cancelling will cost €199. They both ship on September 20.
