Apple doesn’t make many mistakes when it comes to smartphones. But when it doesn’t turn on, it’s a bad thing.
I’ve argued for a while now that Apple took a wrong turn when it decided to use different types of chips in the phones it releases—the iPhone Pro models get shiny new silicon, while the standard iPhone reverts to chips that are a year older. old. The downsides of this strategy have become very apparent in the last couple of years, and it’s only now being noted with the announcement that the new Apple Intelligence features only work on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max among the current models.
Once again, Apple relying on different generations of chips within the same iPhone generation is the gift that keeps on giving.
How we got here
As you may recall, Apple used an egalitarian approach to systems-on-chips – all phones released together would run on the same silicon. Heck, when the iPhone SE (2022) came out, it featured the same A15 Bionic chip found in the iPhone 13 models that came out in the fall.
However, half a year after the launch of the iPhone SE, Apple was singing a different tune. That fall, iPhone 14 models were using an A15 Bionic of their own, albeit one with an extra GPU core. Meanwhile, the iPhone 14 Pro models reap the rewards of a faster A16 Bionic chip, which would then make its way into the iPhone 15 last fall. The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max were upgraded to the A17 Pro, the only iPhone system-on-chip that can support those aforementioned Apple Intelligence features.
I’ve made this point before, but using last year’s chipset in this year’s flagship phone presents a device maker with a serious marketing problem. As good as your new phone might be, you’ve immediately labeled it a “hand-me down,” the second choice you’re reduced to buying if you can’t swing the price of the Pro model and its better chips. . Of course, Apple has been able to better differentiate its Pro models in the last couple of years, but at the expense of making the regular iPhone a best-ignored warm-up act for the iPhone Pro title.
Another issue arose when we started comparing the iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 two years ago. The performance of the best Android phones, powered by Qualcomm’s newest silicon, began to match and eventually surpass the iPhone in some tests.
| Samsung Galaxy S24 | iPhone 15 | |
| maker | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 | A16 Bionic |
| Geekbench (single-core/multi-core) | 2235 / 6922 | 2518 / 6179 |
| Wild Life Unlimited (fps) | 120.4 | 72.1 |
| Adobe Premiere Rush (min: seconds) | 0:41 | 0:24.9 |
Let’s stick with a Galaxy S24 vs iPhone 15 comparison, as it covers the two latest flagships from both companies. The Galaxy S24, powered by the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset found across Samsung’s lineup, beats the iPhone 15 and its A16 Bionic chip in the Geekbench multi-core test and 3DMark’s Wild Life Unlimited test for graphics performance. All the iPhone 15 has going for it are faster video transcoding times and better single-core numbers on Geekbench.
Apple intelligence to the rescue?
And now comes Apple’s revelation that the iPhone 15 you paid $799 for last fall can’t support some software features that come out just months later. I’m not an iPhone 15 owner, but if I were, I’d feel a little uneasy about Apple’s Intelligence. I’d certainly be less excited about Apple’s Intelligence features arriving later this year, since they’re completely bypassing my phone.
Someone with a more nuanced view of this might point out that the limitation on which iPhones can use Apple Intelligence won’t always be so rigid. Fall should bring new iPhone 16 models and the fact that all four phones are rumored to have some variation on the A18 Pro currently in development. This should mean Apple Intelligence support for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, not just the iPhone 16 Pro. So if you’re planning a fall upgrade, you have reason to be excited about Apple Intelligence and the upcoming preview after all.
Or so the theory goes. I spoke with analysts about the prospects for the iPhone 16 upgrade, and it sounds like it’s anyone’s guess what kind of impact Apple Intelligence will have on iPhone sales this fall. Tuong Nyguen, a director analyst at Gartner, is generally positive about Apple Intelligence’s prospects, but he told me he doesn’t see it being a major driver of iPhone improvements. “While the Apple Intelligence features announced were significant, the improvements introduced aren’t really why people buy new phones or switch ecosystems,” he said.
I have even stronger evidence closer to home. My wife is almost ready for a new iPhone, and instead of waiting for the fall, she’ll probably upgrade sooner rather than later. It doesn’t matter to her what AI-powered features might come to her phone in the fall, as much as finding the best iPhone deal right now.
Maybe people are still trying to get as excited about AI as tech companies seem to be. But I suspect there would be a bit more interest in Apple Intelligence if the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus were also in line to be among the first wave of phones to get these AI features with this fall’s iOS 18 update .
If, as expected, this fall’s version of the iPhone 16 features the same A18 chips in every model, it will be the final acknowledgment that this is what Apple should have done with its phones and chips in the last two release cycles. But for me, the lack of wider support for Apple Intelligence is what really drives the point home.
More from Tom’s Guide
#Apple #Intelligence #highlights #Apples #biggest #iPhone #blunder #years
Image Source : www.tomsguide.com