Apple likely to delay the roll out of AI features in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18

Apple’s upcoming artificial intelligence features might arrive a little later than anticipated. Giving the company more time to fix bugs, the tech giant will miss the initial launch of its upcoming iPhone and iPad software overhauls. The company is now planning to roll out Apple Intelligence to customers by October. This means the AI features will arrive a few weeks after the initial iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 releases planned for September.

The iPhone maker is however planning to make Apple Intelligence available to software developers for the first time for early testing as soon as this week via iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1 betas, according to the source. The strategy is atypical as the company doesn’t usually release previews of follow-up updates until around the time the initial version of the new software generation is released publicly.

As Apple bets big on AI, the iPhone company wants to ensure a smooth consumer release and thereby needs support from developers to help iron out issues and test features on a wider scale. Concerns over the stability of Apple Intelligence features, in part, led the company to split the features from the initial launch of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18.

Apple announced the new features and operating systems in June at its Worldwide Developers Conference. It then announced that Apple Intelligence would debut as part of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18. The new timing means the AI capabilities won’t be widely launched until a subsequent update to the new operating system.

The tech giant launched a fourth beta of iOS 18.0 to developers last week and is aiming to complete development by the end of July.

It is customary that when Apple introduces new iPhones each September, the company includes the accompanying new software as well. That necessitates finishing the operating system several weeks earlier so there is time to install the software on the devices before shipping them out of the factory.