iPhone AI feature reportedly has one advantage over rivals

Apple is rumored to launch its artificial intelligence (AI) strategy at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) event in June 2024. A new report highlights that the company could integrate artificial intelligence capabilities into iPhones and other devices in innovative ways, ditching the popular chatbot-style features offered by Samsung Galaxy AI and Oppo. The tech giant is said to be offering a fully on-device suite of AI capabilities that could make them faster but not as powerful as rivals, so demand for novel integrations has emerged.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, via his Power On communicationThe Cupertino-based tech company is preparing to unveil its artificial intelligence strategy soon, and the presentation of the strategy may be significantly different from how AI companies have presented it so far. Apple may not offer AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Copilot or Gemini that provide conversational interfaces to access AI tools and features, but may integrate them in a new way. “Instead of touting the power of chatbots and other generative AI tools, Apple plans to demonstrate how the technology can help people in their daily lives,” the report states.

The iPhone maker has spent decades building its predictive machine learning algorithms into many of its essential features. The technology’s impact can be seen in Siri, the Photos app and the recently launched Personal Voice. It is believed that generative AI capabilities can also be added through an intuitive interface, where the AI ​​works in the background without requiring commands from the user.

Despite its greater ambitions, one thing that may prove to be a major obstacle is the company’s decision to implement artificial intelligence “on-device.” The report highlights that Apple will likely keep AI features running within the device rather than in the cloud due to privacy concerns, and while this will increase the overall speed of the feature, it also has a downside. Limited by the computing power of your device’s hardware, these features may not be as powerful as those of competitors.

One solution the tech giant is currently exploring is partnering with Google, which could help bridge some of the gaps. Despite support, Apple’s internal large language model (LLM) may struggle to match the capabilities and knowledge base of OpenAI’s GPT or Google’s Gemini, as it will be a first-generation technology. However, Apple is known to surprise users by innovating on existing technology. At last year’s WWDC, the Apple Vision Pro demonstrated the unique capabilities of a mixed reality headset. This year, it might be Apple AI.