One thing was clear after Apple showed off the Apple Intelligence feature that will be coming to its phones later this year at WWDC 2024 last week. Most people will need to get a new iPhone if they want to experience something like the more context-aware Siri assistant, along with writing and image generation tools.

This is because the only iPhones currently capable of running Apple Intelligence are the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, both of which are powered by Apple's A17 Pro system-on-chip. More models will probably support Apple Intelligence this fall, when the iPhone 16 is introduced.

So does this mean that there will be a flood of iPhone upgrades later this year as people clamor to enter the brave new world of Apple Intelligence-powered devices? Opinions are divided.

"Apple Intelligence will undoubtedly drive a super-cycle of upgrades for Apple over the next few years. Consumers will be hungry for these AI features that are only available on the latest top-of-the-line iPhones," said Nabila Popal, senior research director at IDC.

Tuong Nyguen, director analyst at Gartner, doesn't think so, at least not right away. He said, "The Apple Intelligence features announced were meaningful, but the improvements introduced are not a reason for people to buy new phones or change their ecosystems."

These two opinions that the Apple Intelligence feature will increase iPhone sales are certainly true in the long run, but probably not anytime soon. When we posed the iPhone 16 upgrade question to the staff at Tom's Guide, we got a similar thread of mixed reactions.

But whether or not the iPhone 16 is in your immediate plans, Apple Intelligence is going to be a big part of the future iPhone experience, as is AI, which should be a major driver of smartphone innovation across the industry, There seems to be a consensus.

Nyguen points to a quote from Arthur C. Clarke that advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic to explain Apple and other companies' moves to add AI capabilities to their phones.

"We are almost 20 years into the smartphone's existence. Users have become desensitized to how wonderful it is to have a mobile device that can endlessly entertain, give you almost any information you want, and provide real-time/almost real-time communication with almost anyone in the world," says Nyguyen.

"AI can take this experience and make this already magical device magical again, allowing users to interact with the device in a more intuitive way, providing contextual understanding of the user and the environment, further improving these interactions, etc.

Indeed, this description seems to apply to Apple Intelligence. Indeed, iPads and Macs with M1 chips or higher can access Apple Intelligence. However, many of the initial features appear to have been developed with the iPhone in mind.

In Mail, Notes, and Messages, iPhone users can take advantage of a feature called Rewrite, which suggests different tones and phrasing, and a proofreading feature checks grammar. Summaries appear in multiple apps and include notifications that call out important details.

In addition to AI-powered writing tools, Apple Intelligence also focuses on image creation. Text prompts now allow users to create their own emoji (which Apple calls Genmojis), and the Image Playground feature allows users to create images to share in Messages. iOS 18's Photos app adds a "Memories" feature, which uses text prompts to organize your own chapters and background music to create photo collections.

The Siri overhaul may be a highlight of Apple Intelligence. Apple's digital assistant should become smarter with the ability to perform specific tasks within apps. More importantly, Siri will become context-aware, allowing it to string together commands without having to repeat previously mentioned apps and prompts.

This is what the IDC popal is looking forward to. The best feature for me is the long-awaited "life-like" assistant emerging from Siri; assuming the Siri demo goes well, Popal says we could get a new assistant that "recognizes the context of our personal situation while performing tasks across apps It can perform them and take the consumer to the promised land of an app-free world."

But again, Apple's work on Apple Intelligence has only just begun.

And perhaps Apple Intelligence is still working on the iPhone 15 Pro model.

And perhaps that explains why there may not be a surge in iPhone upgrades this fall just because of Apple Intelligence. [especially among consumers. The "more interesting question is why consumers are, or should be, interested in AI on the iPhone. I think it's the magic that AI brings to smartphones-the potential to make the devices we take for granted great again."

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