By Lydia | Last Updated
A few days ago, Apple Intelligence was introduced alongside iOS 18 on Apple WWDC24. However, differ from the range of phone models supported by the iOS 18, Apple’s new AI features are only compatible with the latest Apple devices. It means that users should upgrade to newer devices to experience the intelligent services brought by Apple Intelligence.
Apple Intelligence is compatible with devices including iPhone 15 Pro or newer models that running the A17 pro chip, as well as iPads and Macs equipped with the M1 chip or later versions. Specifically including:
Phones: iPhone15Pro Max A17 Pro, iPhone15Pro A17 Pro
iPad: iPad Pro M1 and later, iPad Air M1 and later
Mac: MacBook Air M1 and later, MacBook Pro M1 and later, iMac M1 and later, Mac mini M1 and later, Mac studio M1 Max and later, Mac Pro M2 Ultra.
Apple Intelligence requires powerful on-device processing capabilities to process multiple tasks on the device itself for prioritizing user privacy. Therefore, it has certain hardware requirements, mainly on following three aspects:
The NPU (Neural Processing Unit), which also know as the Neural Engine, is a processor specifically designed to accelerate neural network computations. Unlike traditional CPU and GPU, the NPU is optimized at the hardware level for AI computations to enhance performance and energy efficiency.
The speed of A17 Pro NPU is 35 TOPS (trillion operations per second), which is about twice the performance of the A16 and A15 chips. A high-speed CPU is essential for running Apple AI, and the chip performance of older iPhone models does not meet this requirement.
The M-series chips also have shown significant improvements in both CPU performance and graphics processing speed. Besides, its built-in Neural Engine boosts machine learning speeds by several times, bringing efficient machine learning processing capabilities.
For example, the new M4 chip features a brand-new NPU with a capacity to perform 38 trillion AI calculations per second, which is up to 60 times faster (a 6000% increase) than the neural engine of the Apple A11 chip.
Android smartphones mostly come equipped with 16GB of high RAM now, while iPhone only have 8GB of RAM in iPhone 15 Pro and Max version. And the previous iPhone versions are only max out at 6GB.
Besides, Apple AI supports all devices from M1 and later, including the low-spec M1 iPad Pro with 8GB RAM and MacBook Pro with 8GB RAM.
Apple AI involves neural networks, leading it to heavily depend on RAM size. Therefore, DRAM is also a factor worth considering.
Apple will optimize its AI capabilities through continuous software updates in order to fully utilize the capabilities of the latest hardware. Thus, some certain AI features or improvements may require the latest iOS version, and older devices may not fully support these updates.
In summary, Apple AI’s high demands on CPU performance and DRAM capacity restrict its operation to newer iPhone models and devices. This ensures that users can experience the best AI performance, so as to drive continuous innovation in both hardware and software.
Note that: As the main factors of Apple AI compatibility are hardware requirements, it may be difficult to use Apple AI tools by simply upgrading the iOS version on previous models.
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