Apple unveiled its latest hardware stock during the "Glowtime" livestream event on Monday. Among the new entrants were the Apple Watch Series 10, AirPods 4 with optional ANC, iPhone 16/16 Plus, and iPhone 16 Pro lineup.
Alongside the major announcements, the company also dropped a word on when the next big iPhone operating system update will arrive. Speaking of which, Apple will release iOS 18 on September 16.
We have previously reported that iOS 18 will be supported on several iPhone models, with a couple of them dating back to 2018. Now, this list will expand to include the fresh launches, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
According to Apple, the new iPhones will be available for pre-order starting this Friday (September 13) and go on sale on September 20 in over 58 countries. In other words, existing iPhone users will be running the latest software update by the time Apple"s new iPhones reach their buyers.
The iOS 18 update is packed with a number of features, including Home Screen dark mode, flashlight customizations, easier WiFi password sharing, Passwords app, revamped Settings app, Eye Tracking, and the ability to reduce motion sickness.
The update will also pack Apple"s version of generative AI features that the company is marketing as Apple Intelligence. It"s a suite of AI features for iPhone, iPad, and Mac to help users with writing tools, generating images, improved photo search, personal context awareness, summarization, and cleaning up images.
However, Apple Intelligence will be available in beta for free on supported devices next month with the release of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS 15.1. It was recently reported that Apple might release Image Playground and Genmoji features as part of the iOS 18.2 beta update.
Initially, Apple Intelligence will only work if the device and Siri language are set to English. It will support iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPad and Mac with M1 and later.
Talking about the future roadmap of Apple Intelligence, the company said:
Additional languages and platforms are coming over the course of the next year. Later this year, Apple Intelligence will add support for localized English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. In the coming year, Apple Intelligence will expand to more languages, including Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish.
iPhone software updates usually have a high adoption rate given Apple"s tight control over hardware and software development. As per the latest data from Apple, the iOS 17 update is running on 77% of all iPhones and 86% of iPhones introduced in the last four years.