It looks like iOS 18’s most exciting feature has been delayed

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the most anticipated new feature of iOS 18 won’t appear when originally planned. Instead, Apple Intelligence is expected to see a delayed launch.

Apple Intelligence, announced at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, was supposed to be the centerpiece of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15 Sequoia. Initially, Apple was expected to allow iPhone developers to begin testing at least some of the components of this all-encompassing AI feature in a future iOS 18 beta this summer. Now, however, Apple is pushing this off to iOS 18.1. As a result, the public may not see the first parts of Apple Intelligence until October or later.

This news means the public will see the first version of iOS 18 released in September alongside the new iPhone 16 handsets. Weeks later, iOS 18.1 will be released, including at least some Apple Intelligence features announced at WWDC.

Gurman stated that Apple’s progress on Intelligence tools is slightly slower than anticipated. However, developers will soon get their first look at Apple Intelligence, as the first beta versions of iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1 will be released sometime next week.

This is an odd release schedule, meaning there will be two beta versions of iOS 18.x in the wild — the latest beta version of iOS 18.0, and the first beta version of iOS 18.1.

The new iPhone 16 handsets, which are expected to include the regular iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max, will almost certainly launch with iOS 18, not iOS 18.1.

Apple Intelligence will likely run on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 series when available. It contains AI tools for writing, focus, communication, and imagery. It also includes a more intelligent Siri, Apple’s voice assistant. It should be noted that parts of Apple Intelligence were never expected to launch with the first version of iOS 18.0, and some weren’t expected to be revealed until the beginning of 2025.

Software delays are not uncommon for companies like Apple. However, in this instance, it will be interesting to see how the delay of Apple Intelligence will impact early sales of the iPhone 16. Previously, we mentioned that Apple has high hopes for the new iPhone 16 series, expecting it to boost slowing iPhone sales from earlier in the year.