Other Is AI enough to upgrade to iPhone 16 / Plus / Pro / Max?

[StarbucksCoffee]

I have been playing around with Apple Intelligence on my MacBook, and as fun as it is, I have yet to find a place where it becomes part of my daily life. Not saying it won't happen, it just has not happened yet.

That said, I know that the iPhone 16's (entire lineup) will have more than just AI integration built in, but, would AI by itself be enough for you to upgrade to iPhone 16/Plus/Pro/Pro Max?

When I first saw the demo I immediately said yes, but after my experience on macOS, I am thinking it may be worth waiting to see what happens.

I think it's a matter of time. When ChatGPT came out I didn't really know what to use it for.
Back then I used it to create some funny scenarios like; What if Thanos came to the real world (not that funny if that would happen but ok), what if Homelander from "the Boys" entered the Marvel Universe, things like that (Avengers would lose FYI)

But now I use it daily and It's super helpful.

I think Apple Intelligence will push more people towards using AI features. At first they will probably be trying to figure out how to use it, but with time more people will find it more accessible than actually going to ChatGPT, Gemini (even though already supports ChatGPT).

A use case scenario on this is prob the rewriting part in email and messages. This will be incredibly helpful for most people, and they will be using it more and more.

I'm not that super enthusiastic about that though, because I'm afraid that everyone will just use it for every single email. The "personal" touch will be taken out of an email. To me it's ok to just use it for some parts of an email, but writing the entire email with ChatGPT? ufff no. You can even spot it by checking words like "Crafted, Served etc" that reveals it has probably been generated with chatGPT.

 

[ryan102]

Like a few others, don't see any use for AI. I tend to turn off or don't use a lot of the big software hyped features every year. I turned off Siri years ago, the notch thing still annoys me and find it completely pointless etc etc. AI will just be the next feature that I hope I can turn off.

Give me a better battery, brighter display, better night shots. Those are features I like.

 

[toobravetosave]

15 plus and won’t be getting ai…that’s ok

it’s a rushed feature society is enamored with at the moment because our educational systems in america have failed too many people

maybe in a few years it will be a reliable search and research tool

 

[eoblaed]

I don't want AI, much like I don't want SIRI or memojis or at lot of the stuff Apple likes to tell me are great features (that I will never use).

Make the camera flush with the housing, instead of a giant boil on the back of the phone and that'll be a very big motivator for me.

I don't see that happening anytime soon though.

Or ever. Not without a major regression in camera functionality or a monstrously thick phone. The camera bump has never bothered me, though, so no skin off my back.

 

[2761216]

it’s a rushed feature society is enamored with at the moment because our educational systems in america have failed too many people

What does liking something has got to do with the education system?

 

[Neofox]

What does liking something has got to do with the education system?

And specifically the education system of the USA...LOL
Like people in other countries like a feature because of "the educational systems in america"

 

[eyoungren]

Or ever. Not without a major regression in camera functionality or a monstrously thick phone. The camera bump has never bothered me, though, so no skin off my back.

Yes, I've been told that the technology to do it isn't there (yet). I also happen to believe that Apple believes it's a design styling that differentiates them from other manufacturers. And until they abandon that they will not do this even when (or if) they technology to do it is there.

I still purchase iPhones though because the draw of iOS is enough to override my irritation with the camera bump. You may not have an issue with it, for those who have (or had) an issue with the notch this is the same level of frustration I have. Obviously not enough to prevent me from purchasing the iPhone, but still there.

In the interest of transparency, I should note that I was fairly vocal about this around the time the 6 series launched. So, I could be labeled a hypocrite by all those who got tired of hearing about it from me. But, that said, I ended up with the 6 series phones not because I wanted them, but through a series of incidents not under my control. And at some point I realized that things weren't going to change and to hold out on my iPhone 5 wasn't really going to be a long term option. Add to that the fact that other manufacturers began having camera bumps on their devices and I was screaming into the storm.

 

[ab2c4]

No, not for me at least. When I do get a phone that supports AI I plan to opt out of it or disable it anyways.

 

[StringHawk]

I agree with you on Siri, Memojis and especially on the camera bumps. I have no problem with the fancy cameras that these are, but I'm also not out taking photos for National Geographic. I'd be happy to have an iPhone option with all the same specs, but an optional less-fancy camera that is flush with the housing.

Then all the photogs out there can always option up for the better cameras.

I agree with both of you so much. I look at the pictures that I took with my older iPhones and they are perfectly fine. I don’t need better quality than that. I would kill for a single camera with a flush lens instead of the monstrosity on the back of the iPhone now.

 

[mikelets456]

AI makes no difference for me as I usually type questions to get answers---Anyway, my kids always make fun of people using Siri/Google to text or search saying and calling them a "typical boomer".....I want to be cool and hip so just a good smartphone that takes nice photos!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

 

[martint235]

I’ve already deciding I’m going from the 15PM to the 16P. AI is kind of a potential thing to look at in future but not the sole reason.

 

[janeauburn]

The larger size is a downgrade to me. Too big.

 

[Algr]

Based on what Apple will likely allow the AI to actually do, probably not.

 

[Sami13496]

For me the AI is just a marketing term. Both Artificial Intelligence and Apple Intelligence. But some of the “AI” features they introduced did seem pretty handy. Won’t be upgrading any of my devices just for those features though. Like usual I will be upgrading when the device becomes slow or in other way unusable.

Edit. Oh yeah and the size increase is just nuts imho. Hope they at least bring 5.8 inch back as base size for people who like normal size phones.

 

[smirking]

I have been playing around with Apple Intelligence on my MacBook, and as fun as it is, I have yet to find a place where it becomes part of my daily life. Not saying it won't happen, it just has not happened yet.

AI is like VR in more ways than the character count. Unless you've got money and time to burn, just wait until it arrives for good before you base any purchasing decisions on it.

The two share a history of being really exciting technologies that are perpetually a few years away from being mainstream. That will happen eventually, but we don't know if eventually means 3 months or 30 years from now.

Besides that, Apple especially (with Siri) doesn't have a great track record.

 

[3Rock]

For me, AI doesn’t make a diddly squat. My phone is 4 years old now. I just need a new one. 🤪

 

[StringHawk]

For me the AI is just a marketing term. Both Artificial Intelligence and Apple Intelligence. But some of the “AI” features they introduced did seem pretty handy. Won’t be upgrading any of my devices just for those features though. Like usual I will be upgrading when the device becomes slow or in other way unusable.

Edit. Oh yeah and the size increase is just nuts imho. Hope they at least bring 5.8 inch back as base size for people who like normal size phones.

They are increasing the size of the display?

Edit: never mind, I just saw a thread on this. I’m very happy for a bigger model

 

[Silly John Fatty]

I use ChatGPT Pro a lot but can’t imagine Apple’s AI to be better and therefore I don’t think it’s enough to upgrade. The advantage is probably the integration in the system, e.g. the search and things like that. But not sure why this wouldn’t work on older iPhones tbh.

 

[Momof2.1107]

I have the 15PM and am happy with keeping it for another year and wait for the the 17PM. Whether AI launched this year or next year, I still wouldn’t upgrade my device for AI. Even if my device didn’t support AI, I still wouldn’t upgrade my device.

 

[avro707]

I have a iPhone 15 Pro which does the job fine so don't need to buy a new one.

 

[toobravetosave]

And specifically the education system of the USA...LOL
Like people in other countries like a feature because of "the educational systems in america"

there’s a reason ai research and development is conducted primarily in america and the user bases for these products are also primarily american

nearly double the amount of americans over europeans use ai programs and they’re being adopted by american companies en masse for internal tools

ai is writing letters for children here because our literacy rates are abysmal

it’s sad

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

I have been playing around with Apple Intelligence on my MacBook, and as fun as it is, I have yet to find a place where it becomes part of my daily life. Not saying it won't happen, it just has not happened yet.

Of course it hasn’t, we are still only able to test 1/4 or so of its capability so far, and it’s the least impressive stuff we’ve gotten.
A year from now when we have all of the image generation features, all of the photos app editing improvements, the *actual* new Siri and Search with app intense and screen awareness and context awareness and ChatGPT integration… then come back to this.

 

[whitby]

If Apple Intelligence seamlessly integrates with your daily use, then it will be successful. The best technology is the one that you are really not aware of. E.g. searches become more relevant, better integration of relevant data between apps etc. I think that companies that have been gradually improving these aspects and the use of LLMs etc. will make these more efficient. I think the more obvious uses like the 'Add Me' (See Google Gemini features) and photo editing software that replaces or removes photo artifacts is more obvious and can be considered a separate feature.

I am all for improved search results and the sharing of data between apps and improved spelling checkers etc., but the generative so called A.I. uses leave me cold at the moment. I want technology to assist me in a transparent manner, not replace my creative work. I do a lot of photography and have used Photos and Adobe Lightroom to adjust exposure, curtail highlights, bring up thee shadows etc. and level them up but never to add or remove parts of the photograph since at that point it ceases to be a record of where I took the photograph. I am not a fine art photographer either, so I am not using a photograph as a basis for a piece of art.

I fully understand that people use photo editing tools to make their photographs into aesthetically pleasing art and writers use advanced writing tools to help produce readable prose, but I don't, so this aspect of AI has little to no interest for me. However those aspects of AI that can help me find all the emails about a certain person or subject, or can find pictures of a certain place or persons or allows me to access all my resources about certain things whether they be texts, photos, emails or document etc. are very useful and I love the fact that they may help do this. Apple's approach seems to be more measured and well thought out and it will be interesting to see what it does in a couple of years time as they gradually improve and refine the use of these tools.

However the use of so called AI tools to create fake videos, or make a bad photograph look better or write a book etc. are of little interest to me. And remember that generative AI models will eventually run out of resources to use as a template and will end scraping themselves which will end up in complete nonsense. Who will produce the original stuff then?

Bottom line is that Apple Intelligence is in its infancy at the moment and phones that are promoting support for it are probably not worth the uplift in cost for the resources to support it. In the future as it gets better it may be worth it, because you will be able to point to something like, this new phones is much better at doing x, whatever x is. Meanwhile I want a thinner, lighter phone with a much better battery life, not a bigger heavier phone with worse or the same battery life that supports dubious generative AI driven solutions.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I have been playing around with Apple Intelligence on my MacBook, and as fun as it is, I have yet to find a place where it becomes part of my daily life. Not saying it won't happen, it just has not happened yet.

That said, I know that the iPhone 16's (entire lineup) will have more than just AI integration built in, but, would AI by itself be enough for you to upgrade to iPhone 16/Plus/Pro/Pro Max?

When I first saw the demo I immediately said yes, but after my experience on macOS, I am thinking it may be worth waiting to see what happens.

Obviously we need to wait and see. Ai and apps using AI are evolving rapidly and we have not even seen iPhone 16 Pros in the wild yet. So asking whether AI/iP16 are worth it makes zero sense at this time.

As an iPhone Pro purchaser, TBH the possible AI competence of iP16 Pros is not even a parameter I consider prepurchase; zero. Other issues like camera/lenses, new shutter button, sizes, chip, etc. are the things I look at.

Edit: Note that I would never buy a non-pro version. So if buying the best iPhone anyway, I already know that it will cope with AI at state-of-the-[Apple]art anyway. So speculating about it would be a waste of bandwidth.

 

[HDFan]

generative AI models will eventually run out of resources to use as a template

The amoung of new knowledge yearly which could be scraped is not decreasing, but is probably increasing. Whether AI will be willing to pay for it is another matter.