iOS 18 brought a series of visual innovations for compatible iPhones, but also introduced a significant limitation: Apple Intelligence, Apple’s new generative artificial intelligence, is only available on iPhone 15 Pro models. This is because the technology requires a power of remarkable computation to handle large language models directly on the device, and the A17 Pro chip in the iPhone 15 Pro is the only one capable of doing so. In addition to the iPhone, Apple’s new AI features are also limited to iPads and Macs with the M1 chip or later.
Ever since the announcement of Apple Intelligence, users have wondered why AI capabilities were limited to a small group of devices. In an interview during WWDC 2024, Apple executives John Giannandrea (head of machine learning and AI), Greg Joswiak (marketing) and Craig Federighi (software) explained to John Gruber of Daring Fireball the reasons for this choice, underlining that it is a strategy to sell more iPhones, one of the most widespread accusations online.
John Giannandrea clarified that large language models require enormous computing power to run in real time, and that this depends on several factors: the bandwidth of the device, the size of Apple’s Neural Engine, and the power overall chip. In theory, it would be possible to run these models on older devices, but they would be so slow as to be unusable.
Greg Joswiak added that if the goal had been to sell more iPhones, Apple could have limited compatibility to even the latest iPads and Macs, but it didn’t. Craig Federighi confirmed that Apple’s priority is always to make new features available on as many devices as possible, but in the case of Apple Intelligence it is an essential hardware requirement. He also stressed that “it’s amazing to be able to run models of this power on an iPhone.”
The A17 Pro chip, with its 16-core Neural Engine, is twice as powerful as the A16 Bionic found in the standard iPhone 15 models. This explains why Apple considers the iPhone 15 Pro the only device capable of handling Apple Intelligence functionality effectively and smoothly. Here, however, you will find the complete list of devices compatible with AI. Then let us know in the comments what you think of these statements from Apple.
