- CEO Tim Cook announced the AI plan “Apple Intelligence” at the opening of WWDC 2024.
- While the announcement was impressive, it may not be enough to attract new Apple customers.
- Some of the new features coming to iPhone were already available on Android.
Apple sent shockwaves through the tech world on Monday with the unveiling of its new artificial intelligence system, called Apple Intelligence.
The Worldwide Developers Conference keynote unveiled some long-awaited features like AI, as well as some surprising new features, but that doesn't mean Apple Intelligence is enough to attract new customers.
In fact, if analysts' predictions are accurate, no one should be expecting astronomical results from this 2024 announcement.
One of the main reasons is that Apple Intelligence, and the other updates the company has announced, will only be available in the company's upcoming software updates: iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and its Sequoia operating system for computers. And if you want to use Apple Intelligence on your iPhone, you'll need an iPhone 15 Pro model or later.
So while some may see this as an opportunity to accelerate iPhone growth, and die-hard Apple fans may be especially motivated to upgrade to the latest model if they want to take advantage of the full range of AI features, Android users may not see the same incentive to join the Apple ecosystem.
Dipanjan Chatterjee, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester, said Monday's announcement “will be enough to stem some of the recent steep decline in device sales, but not enough to create a new following.”
Some of iOS 18's new features, such as email summaries and a more customizable home screen, are already offered by Apple's competitors. Meanwhile, existing Apple users may already be using established chatbots, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, as apps on their devices. And many of the more advanced AI features will only be available in American English initially, which doesn't bode well for international markets, Bloomberg reports.
While Apple Intelligence is a multi-year strategy that will take time to fully bear fruit, a note from analysts at Wedbush Securities said the company is “on the right path.”
Still, the memo said, “Apple's AI strategy will leverage its large installed base.” There are 2.2 billion iOS devices in the market, but it remains to be seen whether anyone will actually ditch their Samsung for an iPhone.
But new customers may not be a big deal for all investors: Morningstar technology analyst William Kerwin told Business Insider that this is less about winning new buyers and more about “getting existing customers to spend more and upgrading to a new phone.”
“And we think these announcements will be enough to give it that impetus. But we don't think it will bring about any real change, which is why we gave it a two-star rating,” Kerwin added.
