Samsung’s Galaxy AI finally has some competition. Apple’s long-awaited AI software suite for iPhones, Apple Intelligence, is now available for iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia 15 developer beta users. Like Samsung, Apple is offering a wide range of AI features for smartphones, tablets, and PCs. The company is currently testing an early version of the AI suite as an optional developer beta update. A more stable public version should debut with the iPhone 16 series later this year.
Apple Intelligence arrives to challenge Galaxy AI
Introduced with the Galaxy S24 series, Galaxy AI is a suite of on-device and cloud-based AI features for Samsung’s smartphones, tablets, foldables, PCs, watches, and more. The company recently added more features to Galaxy AI, including a powerful new tool that can turn rough sketches into impressive art in a jiffy. Several other Android OEMs have added AI features to their products, but their offerings aren’t as comprehensive and powerful as Samsung’s.
Apple Intelligence appears to be the real challenger to Galaxy AI. A few weeks after the announcement, the company released an early version of its AI suite for beta users. Apple users enrolled in the beta program are getting AI features with optional developer betas of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1. Once updated, you can enable Apple Intelligence in the Settings app. Apple will first put you on a Waitlist but, according to MacRumors, “access should be granted within a few hours.”
The first Apple Intelligence beta doesn’t bring all the features Apple announced. The company had teased a feature similar to Samsung’s Sketch to image tool, but it is currently missing. Features like Image Playground, Genmoji, ChatGPT integration, Object Eraser in Photos, Priority Notifications, and some Siri capabilities are also missing. Apple plans to gradually expand the suit with new tools over time, letting beta users test them thoroughly to identify bugs and performance issues.
Among the available features are Writing Tools to help improve your writing. You can rewrite a sentence, check the spelling and grammar, and summarize text in Messages, Notes, Mail, and other apps. Siri has been updated with new capabilities powered by AI. The assistant is more personalized to you than ever. Mail and Messages apps gain a Smart Reply feature, while Photos can quickly create a slideshow of your memorable pictures over voice commands. You’ll find more AI features baked into the system.
Only available for the latest models
Samsung plans to bring Galaxy AI to over 200 million Galaxy devices before the end of 2024. Devices launched as early as 2021 are getting some AI features. Apple, on the other hand, has limited Apple Intelligence to the latest models. You need an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max, or an iPad or Mac with an Apple chip to access AI features. Developers with eligible devices will only see the optional beta update. There is no word yet on a public beta. The public release with the iPhone 16 series will be a beta build too.
Nonetheless, it’s disappointing that the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus aren’t getting Apple Intelligence. Reports say the 6GB RAM on these devices is insufficient to handle AI tasks without performance issues. To tackle the problem, Apple is allegedly upgrading all iPhone 16 models to a minimum of 8GB RAM this year. Samsung, on the other hand, is upgrading the Galaxy S25 Ultra to 16GB of RAM. The Apple-Samsung rivalry might have just added a new dimension—AI. Exciting times are ahead for us consumers.
