As college and NFL football season kicks off, many look to the tech world’s equivalent: Apple’s annual September product launch. Each year, the company showcases its latest iPhones and wearable devices, such as the Apple Watch and AirPods, and enthusiastically discusses hardware innovations.

This year’s launch, however, had a twist. While Apple did present new iPhone 16 models, the Watch Series 10, and various new AirPod versions, the spotlight was on software, particularly the company’s AI features known as Apple Intelligence. Introduced at the WWDC developer conference in June (for more details, see “Apple’s WWDC showcases AI to make daily tasks easier”), Apple Intelligence includes generative AI capabilities aimed at enhancing the user experience on any iPhone, including the new 16s and last year’s iPhone 15 Pro series.

What’s new with Apple Intelligence on the iPhone?

One standout feature is an upgraded version of Siri, which has been improved to offer smarter and more relevant assistance compared to previous iterations. Now, Siri can help users easily locate information on their phones, such as identifying whether a recipe was received via text, email, or a shared document. Furthermore, Siri has gained the ability to perceive what you are doing on your device and suggest helpful next steps, like activating a personal hotspot or capturing a panoramic photo.

Siri’s interaction has also been revamped with a colorful glowing light appearing around the edge of the screen during engagement. Users can now opt to type commands instead of speaking, and if they speak, Siri has improved understanding, even recognizing changes during a command.

In terms of photography, Apple has introduced a Clean Up feature that allows users to effortlessly remove unwanted items or people from images—similar to capabilities available on Google’s Pixel phones. Unique to Apple is the feature that lets users generate custom-genmojis simply by typing a description, which is likely to delight emoji fans.

As with other AI solutions, Apple has incorporated options for creating animated images from text prompts or simple doodles. Additionally, it has improved text-based search functionality for images, making it easier to pinpoint exactly what you’re looking for. Users can also ask their iPhone to make personalized slide shows based on a textual description, offering greater control over this feature.

On the text front, Apple now provides tools for generating text for documents and emails, altering writing tone, summarizing content, and more. While these features are common in other cloud-based AI platforms, integrating them into the iPhone will make them more accessible to a broader audience.

One particularly clever feature is the ability to summarize and prioritize emails in the Mail app and notifications on the home screen. Rather than merely displaying the first couple of lines, users can quickly access a condensed version of essential information, ranked by importance. For those inundated with emails and notifications, this could save considerable time, reflecting the kind of straightforward advancement many have hoped to see from Apple in the AI realm. Although this innovation may be imitated by other companies, the initial improvements in implementing features hold significant value.

Will Apple’s AI attract buyers?

The key question surrounding Apple Intelligence is whether it will be enough to entice users with older iPhones to upgrade to the newer AI-enabled versions. Personally, I find this hard to gauge for multiple reasons. For starters, many of these features will be rolled out gradually over the next few months and will initially only support English, which could limit their immediate impact and global adoption.

Moreover, as users begin to familiarize themselves with these AI functionalities on the device, they may prefer some advanced options available from cloud services. Fortunately, Apple has a partnership with OpenAI’s ChatGPT that users can access for free, facilitating exploration of those sophisticated features. Still, many individuals with older iPhones may find that existing cloud services suffice for their needs—or even exceed their expectations.

Some users may find that newer iPhone models are unnecessary for their needs. It’s worth noting that Apple’s intelligent features primarily operate on the device itself rather than relying on cloud services, enhancing user privacy. However, many individuals might not prioritize privacy as much as expected.

In summary, Apple’s integration of AI capabilities marks a significant initial development, particularly considering the vast number of iPhone users. However, this is merely the start. The implementation of AI functionalities will not happen instantly, and even Apple acknowledges that it will take years to fully integrate these features. Nonetheless, for those interested in exploring AI, Apple offers a variety of AI-enabled devices along with several practical AI features to kickstart this journey.

Bob O’Donnell, a columnist for YSL News, is the president and chief analyst of TECHnalysis Research, a firm specializing in market research and consulting. You can find him on Twitter @bobodtech. The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of YSL News.