CEO Tim Cook emphasized the iPhone 16 series was “designed from the ground up” for AI. However, key AI functionalities are not fully integrated and will only be available next year, potentially impacting sales. Apple Intelligence, the AI feature, will launch in beta version next month, initially supporting only English. Other languages, including Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish, are planned for release next year. Notably, the timeline for Korean language support was not specified.
Bloomberg reported that Apple's AI technology is "still in its early stages," and that Apple Intelligence is "not quite ready," with many key features delayed until next year.
Market analysts expressed skepticism about the readiness of these features. Gadjo Sevilla from eMarketer noted, "The beta test release indicates a lot of the features are still being fine-tuned for release and not ready for prime time. The focus on security and privacy is a likely reason for feature delays."
Adding to Apple's challenges, Chinese competitor Huawei's new foldable smartphone garnered 2 million pre-orders within 24 hours of launch. Despite maintaining iPhone 16 prices at 2021 levels, Apple faces uncertainty about meeting its ambitious sales target of 90 million units for the latter half of this year.
