Apple plans to upgrade its entire iPhone and iPad lineup with the fastest internals, and there is a pretty good reason for this. While performance is the consumer's right, it usually depends on various factors, such as which chip will be part of a specific model of the iPhone or iPad. This time around, the company is expected to upgrade a slew of its iPhone and iPad models with the latest internals, and the reason behind the upgrade is Apple Intelligence.
Apple Intelligence is the reason why the company's next-gen iPhone, iPad, and other devices will feature powerful internals
Apple Intelligence is the company's latest offering in the software side of things, allowing iPhone users to accomplish tasks with fewer operations. Siri, combined with ChatGPT and Apple Intelligence, will play a major role in contributing to the provision of information on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. However, it is not available on all iPhone models as the only devices to support it right now are the iPhone 15 Pro model and devices with Apple's custom silicon.
This means that Apple has limited the feature to only a handful of devices as all handsets, including the iPhone 14 Pro, are useless when it comes to Apple Intelligence. However, going forward, the company has plans to upgrade all of its devices that support the company's AI endeavors and in a way, Apple Intelligence is the reason why the company is aiming to upgrade its entire future products with the latest internals.
Apple launching a new device with older chips would mean that the device is not ready for Apple Intelligence, closing doors to one of the biggest features the company has introduced with iOS 18 and other operating systems. Henceforth, users would not only be disappointed but demand for that specific product would be reduced by a lot, as customers would want a device to experience the new utilities.
Evidence of this approach was recently shared by leaker Ice Universe on Weibo, who stated that Apple's next-generation iPhone SE 4 is expected to launch with an A18 chip, which is the same chip that will power the iPhone 16 lineup. This means that the company wants to expand Apple Intelligence to a wide range of devices, including its sub-$500 iPhone. While the case is for the iPhone SE 4, the next iPad mini upgrade could also feature the A18 chip, and possibly the entry-level iPad could come with an A17 Pro chip, which is also capable of handling Apple Intelligence features.
However, it is worth noting that RAM is crucial for AI features, and it remains to be seen how the company would accomplish the tasks on budget devices, which have lower RAM capacity than high-end devices. For instance, the iPhone 17 Pro models are speculated to come with 12GB of RAM, while the standard models will be equipped with up to 8GB of RAM. The company is also exploring storing LLM models on flash storage to bring the technology to a wide range of devices.
Other than the iPhone and the iPad, it was recently suggested that the HomePod with a touchscreen would also include the A18 chip, potentially for Apple Intelligence features. As for the Mac, Apple has kept the compatibility for Apple Intelligence quite extensive, as all Macs with an M series chip are able to make use of the technology. Henceforth, we can safely conclude that Apple Intelligence is driving Apple to include the latest chips in its forthcoming products, even entry-level devices.
