The first iOS 18 update brings Apple Intelligence to the fore
iOS 18 only began rolling out to iOS 18 compatible devices on September 16, but Apple is already gearing up for the launch of its next major update: iOS 18.1.
Typically, these decimal-numbered updates are more incremental than groundbreaking, but this year, Apple’s first post-launch iOS update will be bigger than iOS 18 itself. Yes, it’s finally happening – Apple Intelligence is coming to compatible iPhones as part of iOS 18.1.
Of course, that’s not the only change set to be introduced by Apple’s next software update – which, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, is slated for release on September 28 – and below, we’ve rounded up five of the biggest new features.Apple Intelligence features
This is the big one: Apple Intelligence will debut on compatible iPhones as part of iOS 18.1. You’ll find the full list of eligible devices in our Apple Intelligence compatibility guide, but for iPhones, specifically, you’ll need an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, or iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Unfortunately, not all Apple Intelligence features will be made available in iOS 18.1 – and those that do will be limited to US English for now – but many of Apple’s core AI functions are set to make their debuts in the coming weeks. We’ve highlighted some of them below.
Siri: Apple’s new-and-improved Siri assistant is more natural, more contextually relevant, and just generally a lot smarter than before. For questions it can’t answer on its own, it can hand the query off to ChatGPT (with your permission), and summoning Siri will trigger a rather pretty device-wide glow animation.
