From the very next month, compatible iPhone users will be able to enjoy the full features Apple Intelligence (in beta form) as part of the expected iOS 18.1 update. Exceptions to this rule are two areas: Europe and China, where they will be the places that for the time being will be denied access to the new AI capabilities.
First of all and leaving aside any geographical restrictions, let’s see which devices are eligible to get Apple Intelligence. Because of the performance requirements NPU and RAM, are only supported the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max from older models, but also compatible are all new models in the iPhone 16 series (iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max).
The main assumption of all is that the transition to iOS 18.1 is done first and users have at least 4 GB of available storage space and set the device and Siri to a supported language. Only US English will be supported at first, but other regional English variants will be added by December. Next year, the language option will expand to support Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish.
However, even if you set your iPhone and Siri to a supported language, it will not work if you have your Apple ID Country/Region set to an EU country and you are physically located in the EU. However, it will work when you travel outside the EU.
Changing the region requires you to empty your iTunes store balance and cancel all your Apple subscriptions beforehand. It also requires you to enter a fake address where it is in this area, which may or may not work as a billing address for your payment methods (if you’re interested in buying apps and services from Apple). By changing region, you’ll also lose access to all apps you’ve paid for in your local AppStore and have to start over in the new AppStore.
Compared to the EU, the restrictions for China are even tighter – Apple Intelligence will not work on any iPhone purchased in mainland China. For iPhones purchased elsewhere, Apple Intelligence will not work while they are in Mainland China or if your Apple ID region is set to Mainland China.
The good news is that phones bought in the EU will eventually get Apple Intelligence. What’s holding the whole thing back a bit here? The new Digital Marketing Act (DMA) defines Apple as “gatekeeper” which means that it must respect strict rules on fair competition and transparency due to the large number of consumers using its products and services. So Apple Intelligence also belongs to this special category of services and a solution must first be found by Apple to open its operation here as well.
It’s not like something can’t be done immediately, suffice it to say that the company is reportedly in discussions with EU regulators about how best to implement Apple Intelligence and other features affected by this change.
In fact, CNBC reported that Apple is suspending iPhone Mirroring and improvements to SharePlay for EU consumers due to similar concerns about DMA rules. Apple claims that “DMA’s interoperability requirements could force us to compromise the integrity of our products in ways that compromise user privacy and data security.”
Very briefly we will mention the features supported by Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.1:
- Writing Tools
- Clearance in Photos
- Create a memory tape in Photos
- Natural language search in Photos
- Alert summaries
- Intelligent Breakthrough & Silence in Focus
- Priority messages in Mail
- Smart reply to mail and messages
- Summaries in correspondence and messages
- Siri improvements including product awareness, more robust request handling, new look and feel, more natural voice, ability to type to Siri and more.
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Source: myphone.gr
