An Improved Neural Engine in the iPhone 16 Could Underpin iOS 18’s AI Features
Numerous rumors from earlier this year said that iOS 18, the next big release after iOS 17, will include a ton of generative AI-based capabilities to better rival the likes of Google and Samsung in the market.
According to a recent article from Economic Daily News, this could indeed be the case. The M4 and A18 chipsets from Apple are anticipated to “significantly increase the number of built-in AI computing cores,” according the report.
According to the report, this year will see a significant increase in the number of AI computing cores and performance of the new generation of M4 and A18 processors, as well as a major improvement in the carrying rate of AI applications across all product lines. Additionally, the AI computing power of M3 and A17 processors will be strengthened.
Needless to say, Apple has made improvements to the iPhone’s Neural Engine with each new iteration since it was first released. Since the iPhone 12 models, Apple’s Neural Engine core count has essentially remained the same, as reported by MacRumors. However, Apple has made significant advancements in the previous year. For example, the A17 Pro chipset in the iPhone 15 Pro boasts a Neural Engine that is up to twice as quick as the A16 Bionic in the iPhone 14 Pro.
It’s also unclear if Apple will opt to save its much-discussed AI capabilities for the next models or whether it will extend iOS 18 to the iPhone 15 series and other earlier devices.
Nevertheless, it is anticipated that iOS 18 will be unveiled at the WWDC 2024 conference in June. Given the growing competition from companies like Google and Samsung’s significant AI effort with the Gemini LLM, it is unclear how thoroughly Apple will incorporate AI into the operating system.
