Apple will need to show off truly unique AI features for the iPhone 17 to convince me to upgrade
Apple’s next big iPhone event is just around the corner, and the iPhone 17 lineup is likely to take center stage. I’ll be looking to see how Apple melds the new hardware with its AI ambitions. Because unless there’s something unique to the new devices, specifically relating to AI, I’m not sure I really want to upgrade.
There have been rumors flying around Apple’s AI plans ever since Apple Intelligence started rolling out. But that has mostly seemed like just the same set of AI features available on every device with an occasional Apple twist. If the company wants this launch to stand out, it’ll need to show how the iPhone 17 can do something that no other Apple device, perhaps no other smartphone, can do using AI. Something connected to the hardware.
My high expectations fit with Apple’s teasing of “Awe Dropping” news. Presumably, that’s not just because of how much the high-end version of the new phones will cost. But Apple will need more than just a coat of AI paint on the otherwise impressive piece of technology.
Unique AI
Apple has come off as pretty cautious about AI until now. Sure, Apple Intelligence can help with rewriting emails, summarizing notes, and making personalized emojis, but it’s hardly rewriting how people live their lives.
I admit I’m not sure what my ideal announcement would be. But it shouldn’t be just another text editor or image generator. I want an AI feature that feels like it couldn’t exist on anything but this phone. Something so tightly tied to the hardware, sensors, and Apple ecosystem that it becomes immediately obvious why this phone couldn’t have come out last year or even last week.
Perhaps it’s an AI model that can read my expression and start giving me directions home just from a confused look on my face. Or turning a still into an AI-powered GIF faster than I could type a description of one.
I’m not expecting a holographic AI double of myself to appear in the air or anything, but so many ideas we’ve accepted as common features would have been far-fetched at best a few years ago. And the new iPhones are certain to have the hardware to power some wild ideas. Faster processors, keen sensors, and neural engines that can mimic human conversation at an astonishing level are capable of doing much more than creating an emoji of a dog with a cowboy hat.
So if Apple wants to win me over at this upcoming iPhone event, I don’t need another time-lapse video of Cupertino drone shots and a Jony Ive knockoff voice; I want to see AI doing things my phone never could. Otherwise, I’m happy sticking with my already quite powerful device that’s already paid for. When Tim Cook says there’s one more thing, it should be something I won’t be able to see anywhere else.