At Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in 2024 , AI is obviously the highlight of the 1 hour and 44-minute conference, and the AI part accounts for more than 40 minutes. In the early morning of June 11, Apple updated iOS, iPadOS, MacOS and other operating systems in the first hour of WWDC, and also updated visionOS for the first time. The rest of the surprise time is reserved for Apple’s “AI gift package” – Apple Intelligence.
Tracking the functions of Apple Intelligence throughout the process, the core highlight is that Siri will receive a major upgrade and become an artificial intelligence assistant within Apple products. Through it, it can call upon the capabilities of generative AI in Apple phones, such as searching/modifying photos, summarizing information, etc. .
Overall, Apple-style AI is innovative compared to itself, but when compared horizontally with other AI phones, it appears to be lacking in novelty. After all, these AI functions have either already appeared on OPPO, vivo, and Samsung mobile phones, or can be implemented through third-party applications. Apple's "revolutionary sense" is disappearing.
For consumers, Apple-style AI requires newer models to be implemented, which means that if you want to use Apple Intelligence, you have to spend a lot of money. So, can Apple-style AI with limited novelty still stimulate consumers' desire to buy?
Apple’s “AI gift package” lacks novelty
Apple's artificial intelligence system has been waiting for a year, and finally redefined Apple-style AI under the name Apple Intelligence. Prior to this, almost all mobile phone manufacturers had already joined the artificial intelligence craze, and Apple was somewhat slow in its actions.
The answer was revealed at WWDC. The AI generation model will be placed in mainstream Apple hardware such as iPhone, iPad and Mac in terminal form through system and hardware updates. Native applications will have upgraded functions due to the emergence of AI.
For Apple users, the most attractive thing is that the scheduling ability of AI will help users achieve cross-App operations. With the intervention of Apple Intelligence, Siri breaks away from the "artificial retardation" sequence and becomes a ready-made Apple AI assistant. For example, you can directly wake up Siri with your voice to find a specific picture and modify it according to your intention; you can ask Siri to summarize text messages and so on.
Previously, it was reported on the Internet that the cooperation between Apple and OpenAI has also produced substantial results, but Apple only left a small entrance for ChatGPT. Users can choose to enable this generative AI tool and call ChatGPT's functions on demand. Apple also said: "We also plan to add support for other AI models in the future." This makes people guess which big model Chinese users will use.
The capabilities of Apple Intelligence mainly enter the hardware through the system and become practical or even functions that did not originally exist in Apple hardware. For example, Apple has moved a calculator into iPadOS 18 for the first time. AI capabilities allow computers to have "math note-taking" capabilities. It is no longer a point-and-click calculation tool. Users can use Apple Pencil to handwrite calculation processes. The calculator Not only can the panel give answers, but it will also be presented in your handwriting and even generate corresponding charts.
For example, the user can handwrite a formula and let the calculator give the answer. If the user changes the calculation variables, the calculation results can be updated simultaneously, and even function diagrams can be generated in real time.
It’s worth noting that these AI-powered features won’t be available on all devices.
Currently, only iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max have access to Apple Intelligence. Therefore, if it is a version below these models, even if it is updated to iOS 18, it will still not be able to experience Apple-style AI. For iPad and Mac users, devices supported by M1 or higher chips are required.
However, although users of older devices cannot see Apple Intelligence, AI applications are not unique to Apple. Whether it is conversational robots or AI photo generation/retouching functions, they have long been visible in the Apple App Store in the form of various apps.
And this is almost the most "bland" aspect of Apple's WWDC: there is more than enough innovation, but not enough new ideas. You know, users have already seen these AI functions of Apple on other mobile phones.
Since this year, whether it is Chinese mobile phone brands Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, etc., or Apple's strongest competitor Samsung, a large number of Android phones have long been dubbed "AI phones" and have implanted the capabilities of generative AI into their phones. In the built-in mobile application, scenarios such as eliminating passers-by from photos and summarizing information with one click have become mainstream functions of AI mobile phones.
Compared with itself, Apple is developing AI; but compared with other competitors, it no longer has the first-mover advantage.
Bundling AI functions with hardware tests consumer wallets
Apple's stock price continues to rise after it released a series of AI plans. When U.S. stocks opened on June 11, Apple closed up more than 7%, setting a new high; on June 12, Apple's market value surged by more than 1.5 trillion overnight.
Analysts expect the new AI features will spur consumers to upgrade their devices, since the tools are only available on newer models. But some analysts are skeptical. Forrester analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee said: "Maybe improving Siri-driven smart devices can prevent the loss of some Apple users, but it is not enough to create a new group of followers."
Apple's iPhone business accounts for half of the company's total sales, and AI functions are most convenient to use on mobile phones. Between the changes of old and new, it may be a good strategy to reduce the price of old mobile phones to attract new fans and free up the market for new models to consolidate old fans.
Currently, Apple's latest model iPhone15 series is undergoing the largest price reduction in history in the Chinese market. In addition to coinciding with the e-commerce festival, the iPhone16 series will most likely be launched this fall according to previous years.
During the 618 activities of various e-commerce platforms, the prices of all iPhone 15 series models were significantly reduced. The iPhone 15 dropped from 5999 yuan to 4599 yuan, and even lower than 4500 yuan on some platforms. The iPhone 15 Pro Max also dropped from 9999 yuan to less than 7500 yuan. .
Some KOLs believe that compared with the AI functions launched by Apple, continuing to maintain "the price of 618 may prevent the decline of the iPhone in the market." New data shows that iPhone sales have returned to No. 1 in the Chinese market.
In the past two years, iPhone sales growth has almost stagnated, but in April this year, Apple's iPhone sales in China soared by 52%. This growth curve is almost vertical. The sharp increase in sales is mainly the result of successive price cuts of Apple devices in the Chinese market.
However, can Apple's new generation devices equipped with the latest chips to perform AI functions still maintain "friendly" prices? The application of M4 chips is the best judgment window.
In May of this year, Apple launched its latest M4 chip, which it identified as a chip that is very suitable for executing the latest AI applications, and installed it on the new iPad Pro. The price of this device has also undergone a major upgrade like its update: from the previous generation’s starting price of 6,799 yuan (11-inch, 128GB storage) to 8,999 yuan (11-inch, 256GB storage), the 128GB version has been cancelled. The starting price of the 13-inch model has also increased from 9,299 yuan to 11,499 yuan, a price increase of 2,200 yuan, an increase of 32%.
Different from the past, the M4 chip was not first installed in any Mac computer. Some netizens predicted that the next desktop Mac that has not been updated may skip M3 and go directly to M4.
In a poll on whether they would buy a new iPad, as many as 68.72% of users chose the "can't afford it" option, with a total of 18,233 votes.
Extended reading: M4 chip crushes AI PC? The new iPad Pro is the “first shot” of Apple’s AI era
There is also news that Apple iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus will use the new A18 chip and a more powerful neural engine, which can use local AI models. In addition, Apple will cancel the 128G version, and the entire series of products will start directly from 256G, and the price will also rise accordingly to start at 6,999 yuan. According to this information, compared with the iPhone 15, the 256G version is priced at 5,999 yuan.
Andy Wu, associate professor at Harvard Business School, pointed out: "The high cost of executing advanced generative artificial intelligence models and managing the misleading information that may be generated will bring new challenges to Apple." More importantly, Apple needs to convince consumers or why they need to pay higher prices to access these new AI capabilities.
Will you buy an AI phone for its AI functions?
