Insider says iOS 18 updates will bring Apple Intelligence in stages

Bloomberg’s Apple insider Mark Gurman has outlined the phased rollout plan for Apple Intelligence features, with three major iOS updates planned before the end of the year, as follows:

• iOS 18.1 (Mid-October): This initial update will bring the first round of Apple Intelligence features, focusing on email and message management, writing tools, photo editing, and call recording/transcription.
• iOS 18.2 (Early December): Users can expect marquee features like lock-screen notification prioritizing, Image Playground, Genmoji, and the initial integration of ChatGPT with Siri. This update will also expand Apple Intelligence's localized English support to several new countries.
• iOS 18.3 (Late December): Primarily a bug-fix update for iOS 18.2, this release may also include some new Siri features, such as Personal Context and deeper app integration.

Following iOS 18.3, a significant gap is expected before the release of iOS 18.4, which will finally bring the highly anticipated Siri upgrades and support for languages other than English, including Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish. This update is tentatively scheduled for March 2025.

Apple's decision to stagger the rollout of Apple Intelligence features represents a strategic move to maintain user engagement and excitement over an extended period. By gradually introducing new capabilities, the company hopes to keep users in "new feature discovery" mode, encouraging them to explore and adopt these features at their own pace.

However, this approach carries risks, particularly concerning the delayed availability of local language support and its potential impact on international sales. Additionally, with Google's Android platform already offering similar AI features and continuously innovating, Apple faces stiff competition in the AI space.

The other side of that same coin is that this phased rollout could benefit users by allowing them to gradually incorporate Apple Intelligence features into their workflows, rather than being overwhelmed with a slew of new capabilities all at once. However, the downside is that users eagerly anticipating specific features, such as the upgraded Siri or support for their native language, will have to wait several months or even longer.