iPhone 16: Apple Intelligence is here, but Google is miles ahead, says GlobalData

18 September 2024: Following the news that Apple has announced iPhone 16 series phones, featuring Apple Intelligence, along with Watch 10 series and AirPods 4 at the Glow Time event:

Anisha Bhatia, Senior Technology Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view “Minor improvements on the iPhone 16 aside, it was Apple Intelligence that stole the show at the event in Cupertino, marking a milestone for the tech giant. The new phone series is Apple’s first to be engineered from inception to fully integrate on-device artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and includes its latest A18 series of chipsets.

“Apple was the last major OEM to integrate AI into its devices. Nevertheless, today, Apple reiterated numerous announcements previously made at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June 2024; Apple Intelligence will focus on language, image, and action generation, drawing upon the personal context and will be supported by various on-device generative models. These models will dynamically learn from and adapt to individual users. The integration of this technology into Apple’s ecosystem will occur in a phased manner over the next few years. Meanwhile, Google will race ahead taking its Gemini AI models to 200 million Android devices by the end of 2024.

“Google is also intensifying its focus on hardware, as evidenced by its expansion into retail with the opening of new stores in Boston, Chicago, and Santa Monica to enhance its presence in the consumer hardware sector, an area where it has previously shown modest results. By allocating substantial marketing resources to highlight its AI capabilities, Google is strategically positioning itself as a frontrunner in the AI-driven consumer technology arena. However, Apple, with its equally substantial financial resources and a network of over 530 retail stores across 27 regions worldwide, is well-equipped to promote its AI initiatives and showcase the power of on-device intelligence to consumers.

“The upcoming iPhone cycle is crucial for Apple after multiple years of lackluster sales, especially in China, regulatory scrutiny, and a loss in market cap to Microsoft and Nvidia on the strength of their AI business. Apple will have to upsell its AI significantly.”