iOS 18 Speculation Thread

[Realityck]

Apple Bets That Its Giant User Base Will Help It Win in AI

Though Apple’s first set of modern AI features won’t be as impressive as rival offerings, the company is betting that its massive customer base can give it an edge. Also: Sonos launches its long-awaited headphones; Humane tries to sell itself; and Apple brings on a new diversity chief.

www.bloomberg.com

Not to expect the whole AI world with iOS 18 and MacOS 15, still a WIP.

At Apple Inc.’s developers conference next month, the company will unveil a different approach to artificial intelligence, focusing on tools that ordinary consumers can use in their daily lives. The idea is to appeal to a user’s practical side — and leave some of the more whiz-bang features to other companies.

Apple is bringing the new AI features to iOS 18 and macOS 15 — and both operating systems will include software that determines whether a task should be handled on the device or via the cloud. Most of the on-device features will be supported by iPhone, iPad and Mac chips released in the last year or so. The cloud component, meanwhile, will be powered by M2 Ultra chips located in data centers, as I’ve previously reported.

There are several new capabilities in the works for this year, including ones that transcribe voice memos, retouch photos with AI, and make searches faster and more reliable in the Spotlight feature. They also will improve Safari web search and automatically suggest replies to emails and text messages.

The Siri personal assistant will get an upgrade as well, with more natural-sounding interactions based on Apple’s own large language models — the core technology behind generative AI. There’s also a more advanced Siri coming to the Apple Watch for on-the-go tasks. Developer tools, including Xcode, are getting AI enhancements too.

One standout feature will bring generative AI to emojis. The company is developing software that can create custom emojis on the fly, based on what users are texting. That means you’ll suddenly have an all-new emoji for any occasion, beyond the catalog of options that Apple currently offers on the iPhone and other devices.

Another fun improvement (unrelated to AI) will be the revamped iPhone home screen. That will let users change the color of app icons and put them wherever they want. For instance, you can make all your social icons blue or finance-related ones green — and they won’t need to be placed in the standard grid that has existed since day one in 2007.

A big part of the effort is creating smart recaps. The technology will be able to provide users with summaries of their missed notifications and individual text messages, as well as of web pages, news articles, documents, notes and other forms of media.

Now, many of these features will be purely catch-up. There’s no leapfrogging here. Google has had many of the same AI features in its Pixel devices for several years. Samsung Electronics Co. rightfully threw in the towel on developing its own marquee AI features this year and relies on Google Gemini instead.

There’s also no Apple-designed chatbot, at least not yet. That means the company won’t be competing in the highest-profile area of AI: a market that caught fire after OpenAI released ChatGPT in late 2022.

The big question is whether it really matters that Apple is playing catch-up here. The company has one advantage that few rivals can match: its massive base of users.

There will be hundreds of millions of Apple devices around the world that can support the AI features when they debut later this year. The owners of those devices will probably at least try out the new capabilities (the technology may be integrated tightly enough that people won’t even notice they’re using them). That could turn Apple into the biggest AI player overnight.

But even now, there are signs that the company’s AI initiative is a work in progress. Apple is considering marketing the capabilities as a preview (at least in developer beta versions before a formal launch in September), indicating that the technology isn’t yet fully baked.

^ Interesting last comment. Infinite emojis too.

 

[rui no onna]

Looks like better app icon customization is coming!!! I hope it does more than just change the color of the icon, but either way, it’s bound to be an improvement! 👍🏻

Report: iOS 18 will let users recolor app icons, and place them wherever they want on the home screen - 9to5Mac

As reported by Mark Gurman in his latest Power On newsletter, iOS 18 will give users more customization of their...

9to5mac.com

Customizable icon placement finally. I dunno why this took them so long to implement. Pretty much all OS (Mac, Windows, Linux, Android) have had this forever.

 

[xxFoxtail]

There’s a couple very unlikely things I’m hoping for with iOS 18. I know the general focus will be on AI though.

•System wide Fitness+ interface. The cycling timer in the Dynamic Island is pretty close to what I want. Though, I’m kind of hoping for additional stats always on screen no matter what I’m doing. Maybe just a little box I can swipe to the side like a PiP video showing my time, calories, heart-rate and maybe a rings preview. (I’m on my exercise bike or treadmill quite a bit when I’m using my iPhone, I have this data on my Watch, but would like to see it on my iPhone/iPad/Mac as well even if I’m not doing a Fitness+ workout). Even if it’s just a better version of mirroring my Apple Watch display, I think that could work too.

•External display/stage manager support for iPhone. As much as I’d like to switch back to an iPad again, I’ve been perfectly happy using my iPhone with a Bluetooth keyboard (and occasionally a mouse). I know there’s a jailbreak tweak that enables it on an iPhone, I’d like official support for it. I’ve tried InfiniteX2P, while it works okay on my 14 Pro, there’s a lot of issues with things reloading or not loading at all - so not quite what I want, though it’s probably the closest thing we’ll get for a while.

Edit: I have another one too!
•This is good for both iPhone and iPad. I’d like better physical keyboard support. There’s apps that it works perfectly in like Safari and Books. Then theres apps like News where it partially works. I can use the space bar and arrow keys to scroll through an article, but can’t use them to scroll through the main page. Full Keyboard Access partially fixes this.

 

[Populus]

Customizable icon placement finally. I dunno why this took them so long to implement. Pretty much all OS (Mac, Windows, Linux, Android) have had this forever.

Seems like they were holding up a lot of features for iOS 18? Definitely a big release aimed at boosting iPhone sale numbers. Or maybe this are the fruits of Apple employees going back to the office after the pandemic…

Not to expect the whole AI world with iOS 18 and MacOS 15, ^ Interesting last comment. Infinite emojis too.

Right now I wonder two things:

- Where will Apple put the hard cut-out of the on-device AI features? My bet is A15 Bionic, because it covers devices 2 years old or newer, and the A15 saw a substantial increase in TOPS from 11 (A14) to 15,8 (A15).

- Will the custom emojis be visible by Android/Windows/Linux users, or just for the people running iOS 18 / macOS 15 or newer?

 

[Populus]

•External display/stage manager support for iPhone. As much as I’d like to switch back to an iPad again, I’ve been perfectly happy using my iPhone with a Bluetooth keyboard (and occasionally a mouse). I know there’s a jailbreak tweak that enables it on an iPhone, I’d like official support for it. I’ve tried InfiniteX2P, while it works okay on my 14 Pro, there’s a lot of issues with things reloading or not loading at all - so not quite what I want, though it’s probably the closest thing we’ll get for a while.

While that is certainly possible, because the jailbreak tweak demonstrates it, and Samsung has such feature with Samsung Deck or Galaxy Deck or however it’s called, honestly, I don’t see Apple doing that.

They haven’t put iPadOS on par with macOS because they don’t want to cannibalize sales of macs, and they won’t enable external monitor support with Stage Manager on iPhone because it could cannibalize iPad Pro sales. They don’t even support it on the regular iPad or the mini, only on the M1, M2 and M4 iPads.

 

[Populus]

Kal Madda has just been suspended?! I hope it doesn’t have anything to do with him sharing the 9to5mac link with Gurman predictions…

 

[gwhizkids]

Kal Madda has just been suspended?! I hope it doesn’t have anything to do with him sharing the 9to5mac link with Gurman predictions…

What!?

And no I doubt that would be the reason.

 

[gwhizkids]

Something I hope Apple gives us: more Lock Screen widgets. The current 3 small ones is pretty limiting.

Also, the ability to run shortcuts straight from the Lock Screen (without an app like LockFlow [sorry, LockFlow, that would make you SherlockFlow]) and without the need for the Shortcuts app to open.

 

[Populus]

Widgets on the external display is for me a must on iPadOS 18. I mean, if they want to keep with the current UI layout for a docked iPadOS…

 

[cbreze]

How about scrollable widgets like for calendar and mail. Why can't apple get it together with widgets? And if we can now move icons where we want how about option to remove icon titles. Sorry Apple, maybe I'm asking for to much.

 

[dannyyankou]

I would love if you could charge AirPods with iPhone's MagSafe. I'm convinced it's possible to enable with a software update since the iPhone can reverse wireless charge the MagSafe battery pack.

 

[AppleFanboy1984]

So, a Swedish techjournalist wrote this the other day:




"Ahead of Apples WWDC in June, the iPhone-giant feels like the kind of a company that Steve Jobs feared the most: A company you can ignore"

Could you agree with this, or is his head made of IKEA meatballs?

 

[gwhizkids]

So, a Swedish techjournalist wrote this the other day:




"Ahead of Apples WWDC in June, the iPhone-giant feels like the kind of a company that Steve Jobs feared the most: A company you can ignore"

Could you agree with this, or is his head made of IKEA meatballs?

If I had a dollar for every time someone said Apple was doomed, I’d have a lot of dollars.

Apple’s history since 1997 is of not being the first to implement a new feature but doing it the best (or at least very very well) when they jumped in.

Mobile phone: iPhone
Tablet: iPad
Smartwatch: Apple Watch
Messaging: iMessage
Mobile music app: Apple Music

The list could go on.

Apple will fail at some point in the future. All companies will eventually. But I don’t think this is that point.

AI is the cool new feature (and genuinely does feel like a new paradigm in computing). But so far most of the implementations have the feel of being less than serious as companies grope around trying to figure out what it’s good for and good at. Most of the guesses so far haven’t been all that good.

I’m quite certain that Apple has been playing around with this for at least the last five years. Did they get caught a bit flat-footed by OpenAI’s splash. Yup. But I suspect they will come up with something people can use for real rather than just for their amusement. The question is how quickly it gets rolled out.

 

[winxmac]

iOS 18 - A14 Bionic and newer
iPadOS 18 - A12 Bionic and newer

 

[Realityck]

So, a Swedish techjournalist wrote this the other day:

"Ahead of Apples WWDC in June, the iPhone-giant feels like the kind of a company that Steve Jobs feared the most: A company you can ignore"

Could you agree with this, or is his head made of IKEA meatballs?

Until iOS 18 is seen operating it’s pointless to speculate about past CEO outlook upon todays technology. Nothing is simplistic like it use to be. Most of us are still very much interested to see how usable iOS 18 will be with some AI features added?

 

[Tagbert]

This website and YouTube is riddled with people trashing iPadOS saying it is not true OS.

Yet this is only page 8 and hardy anyone is posting what features iPadOS has to have to make it true OS.

You do know that Apple reads this as they don’t like loads of large army YouTube and tech sites bashing iPad Pro that just get realized.

This article by Federico Viticci is an excellent look at what is still missing in iPad OS. Federico has long been a big proponent for using iPads as your main productivity device. He has done a lot of thinking about the problem and spent a lot of time trying to be productive on iPad OS. This is a well informed critique from someone who really likes the iPad but wants it to be better.

Not an iPad Pro Review: Why iPadOS Still Doesn’t Get the Basics Right

Let me cut to the chase: sadly, I don’t have a new iPad Pro to review today on MacStories. I was able to try one in London last week, and, as I wrote, I came away impressed with the hardware. However, I didn’t get a chance to use a new iPad Pro over the past

www.macstories.net

 

[Tagbert]

What is wrong with iPadOS memory management? Why does this have to be fixed?

The biggest problem with iPad OS memory/cpu management is that background tasks get terminated with little/no warning. Only a few kinds of apps are allowed to run in the background. People are finding that if you are using Final Cut Pro for iPad and start a render you had better keep that app in the foreground. If you switch to email or slack while it is rendering, iPad Os will just terminate Final Cut Pro in the middle of a render.

Imagine how that would work if Mac OS were running as a virtual app. Apple needs to address this. These devices have the same hardware and power profile as a MacBook Air. They no longer need all of the same limitations as an iPhone.

 

[LogicalApex]

AI is the cool new feature (and genuinely does feel like a new paradigm in computing). But so far most of the implementations have the feel of being less than serious as companies grope around trying to figure out what it’s good for and good at. Most of the guesses so far haven’t been all that good.

I’m quite certain that Apple has been playing around with this for at least the last five years. Did they get caught a bit flat-footed by OpenAI’s splash. Yup. But I suspect they will come up with something people can use for real rather than just for their amusement. The question is how quickly it gets rolled out

Apple is uniquely positioned to both deliver compelling practical AI applications and to carve out a vice grip on the market. If done right it could make Apple devices extremely attractive for a long time. They also have been far ahead by including NPUs in their devices well ahead of others.

All that said, they also carry the biggest risk compared to other players. Apple has let their existing AI like features rot on the vine. Siri seems to be less and less smart everyday. The new machine learning autocorrect seems to have made autocorrect worse (how is that even possible?). If they don’t execute flawlessly consumers may ignore their AI features as competitors gain ground and surpasses them.

We’ll see what WWDC bring in a little more than a week.

 

[Tagbert]

Apple is uniquely positioned to both deliver compelling practical AI applications and to carve out a vice grip on the market. If done right it could make Apple devices extremely attractive for a long time. They also have been far ahead by including NPUs in their devices well ahead of others.

All that said, they also carry the biggest risk compared to other players. Apple has let their existing AI like features rot on the vine. Siri seems to be less and less smart everyday. The new machine learning autocorrect seems to have made autocorrect worse (how is that even possible?). If they don’t execute flawlessly consumers may ignore their AI features as competitors gain ground and surpasses them.

We’ll see what WWDC bring in a little more than a week.

Yes, Siri is pretty decrepit but I find the new typing suggestions to be a big improvement in relevency. I wonder if it’s learning mode is picking up misspellings? I think there is a way to reset it in the keyboard settings and start over.

 

[gwhizkids]

More rumors this morning (and this is just from MacRumors)

More Details About iOS 18's AI Features Revealed

Apple is planning to introduce new AI features including Smart Replies for messages and a generative retouch tool for photos in iOS 18, a new report...

www.macrumors.com

These are coming fast and furious now, so iOS 18 must be on a wider circulation now to "interested parties". The upshot of all these rumors appears to be that the AI components in iOS 18 will be mainly "assistive AI", meaning providing writing assistance and suggesting replies. That's not as sexy as apps like ChatGPT, but probably more in the wheelhouse for what most people need and will use. Typical Apple!

 

[gwhizkids]

Yes, Siri is pretty decrepit but I find the new typing suggestions to be a big improvement in relevency. I wonder if it’s learning mode is picking up misspellings? I think there is a way to reset it in the keyboard settings and start over.

I'm with @LogicalApex: the typing suggestions (and even more, the autocorrection) are horrific, particularly when using slide-typing, i.e., GlidePath (with any keyboard). I have tried resetting keyboard settings and it didn't help. Of particular annoyance is the tendency to try to correct words to people's names. This HAS to get better.

 

[Kal Madda]

Only 11 more days! 👍🏻. I’m stoked! I’m really looking forward to iPadOS 18! 👍🏻

 

[Bubble99]

I'm wondering if Apple for 18 is going to bring out more widgets to choose from?

 

[gwhizkids]

I'm wondering if Apple for 18 is going to bring out more widgets to choose from?

I certainly hope so. But the key is for Apple to make widgets more appealing so developers will want to create them. So they need to have more functionality than they do now.

The problem is that the more things become “widget-ized”, the less brand goodwill a particular app will have (as people will interact with the app less and less and the widgets more and more).

I think we are drifting that way … to a world where app intents (which is how widgets are “powered”) are more significant than the apps themselves. But this results in a loss of control and monetization opporunities by developers, so they are highly resistant, i would imagine.

 

[Kal Madda]

I certainly hope so. But the key is for Apple to make widgets more appealing so developers will want to create them. So they need to have more functionality than they do now.

The problem is that the more things become “widget-ized”, the less brand goodwill a particular app will have (as people will interact with the app less and less and the widgets more and more).

I think we are drifting that way … to a world where app intents (which is how widgets are “powered”) are more significant than the apps themselves. But this results in a loss of control and monetization opporunities by developers, so they are highly resistant, i would imagine.

I remember when I went to set up desktop with widgets when macOS Sonoma came out, and I discovered there are no widgets for the Mail app! What?!!! This is such an obvious miss, I have no idea why there’s no widget for Mail on my desktop, yet there’s a widget for Mail on my iPhone and iPad. Hopefully they catch up on some widgets this go around! 👍🏻