Key Takeaways
- iOS 18 is expected to be released in September 2024, with WWDC 24 likely to reveal its features in June 2024 and a public beta in July 2024.
- Rumours suggest that iOS 18 will focus on AI, with improvements expected for Siri, Messages, and other native Apple apps like Apple Music and Pages.
- The compatibility of iPhones with iOS 18 is uncertain, but it is possible the iPhone XS and XS Max, as well as the iPhone XR may not be compatible.
It wasn’t all that long ago that iOS 17 landed on iPhone models, but there are already a number of rumours surrounding what is next for iPhone in terms of hardware and software. We are covering off the hardware rumours for iPhone 16 separately, but here we are looking at what has been said about the upcoming features for iPhone’s software.
The next major software release is expected to be iOS 18 and by the sounds of it, we can expect a focus on AI – something we have seen plenty of chatter about of late from the likes of Google, ChatGPT, Microsoft and Qualcomm. This is everything we have heard about iOS 18, including when we might expect it, what features it might offer and what iPhones are expected to be compatible.
iOS 18 release date
When is iOS 18 expected to come out?
Assuming Apple follows the same release pattern as it has done for the last couple of years, we are expecting to hear more official information about iOS 18 during the company’s Worldwide Developer Conference in mid-2024. Typically, WWDC – as it is often referred to – takes place in early June, or at least it has done for the last few years.
The main keynote where Apple reveals new features for all its next major software releases for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV normally takes places on the first Monday of the event. For 2024, this could either be 3 June or 10 June if the same timeline is followed, with no official details likely to be shared until around March 2024.
Of course, WWDC is only when Apple details the upcoming features of the next version of iOS, with the final build of the software not usually available until the following September, around the launch of the new iPhone models. A public beta has been made available around July for the last couple of years and if this is the case for 2024 – which we expect it to be – then that is likely to be the first time you’ll be able to try some of the new iOS 18 features. For now, nothing is confirmed but our best guess for now would be as follows:
- March 2024: WWDC dates announced
- June 2024: iOS 18 features revealed at WWDC
- July 2024: Public beta of iOS 18 released
- September 2024: Final iOS 18 software released
iOS 18 features
What features are rumoured to be coming for iOS 18?
So far, the rumours surrounding iOS 18 are a little thin on the ground, though they all seem to be targeting the same message: AI.
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg – who typically has a good track record with Apple leaks – has said iOS 18 is “more critical than usual” as the company races to “catch up with Google and OpenAI in generative AI”. He went on to add that “iOS 18 is poised to bring such technology to the iPhone” and that it has to be a decent upgrade to counteract the lack of hardware advances expected for the iPhone 16 models.
Gurman has said iOS 18 is expected to boast “major new features and designs”, as well as “security and performance improvements” and he claimed sources within Apple have called the upcoming operating system “ambitious and compelling”.
No specific details have been revealed by Gurman as yet however, other than to say that generative AI – the sort of AI that ChatGPT and Copilot use – will come to iOS 18. He also mentioned that it should “improve how both Siri and the Messages app can field questions and auto-complete sentences”, and says that Apple has been testing generative AI features with other apps too, like Apple Music and Pages.
Elsewhere, it has been rumoured that Apple is investing in AI servers and it’s also rumoured that the company is planning on incorporating large language models into Siri. This is what ChatGPT is trained on for example, and it would, in theory, allow Siri to respond more like a human. There’s talk of a deeper integration with the Shortcuts app for example, which could mean that Siri would be able to automatically complete some of the more complex tasks you can setup in Shortcuts. There are also examples like asking a GIF to be created from your last five photos, for example, though we suspect there will be other use cases too, hopefully like Google’s Magic Editor.
In terms of other features, Apple has confirmed that it will support RCS messaging, which should deliver a better cross-platform messaging experience when using iMessage. Currently, blue bubbles – which appear when you’re messaging iPhone to iPhone – allow for features like read receipts and typing indicators. When someone with an Android device sends a text message to an iPhone, a green bubble appears with the information and that’s it. No fancy features. RCS support should change this, and it’s expected that support will arrive with iOS 18.
What iPhones are expected to be compatible with iOS 18?
As with everything else here, it’s not yet known what iPhones will be compatible with iOS 18. We can speculate, of course, but we won’t know with any certainty which models will be compatible until WWDC 24. With iOS 17 dropping support for the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X – all of which were released in 2017 – it is possible it will be the 2018 models on the chopping block for iOS 18.
If that is the case, the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR won’t be compatible. It is also possible that with quite a big cut for iOS 17, Apple will give those older devices another year of life before they get the chop.
For now, we suspect the following models will be compatible with iOS 18:
- iPhone 15
- iPhone 15 Plus
- iPhone 15 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
- iPhone 14
- iPhone 14 Plus
- iPhone 14 Pro
- iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 13 mini
- iPhone 13
- iPhone 13 Pro
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 mini
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone 11 Pro
- iPhone 11
- iPhone SE (2022)
- iPhone SE (2020)
iOS 18 rumours: What’s happened so far?
Apple
Here are all the rumours we have heard about iOS 18 so far, in order of when they have been said.
16 November 2023: The iPhone is getting RCS messaging support, here’s what that means for you
It was announced in November 2023 that Apple would be bringing support for RCS in 2024. “Later next year, we will be adding support for RCS Universal Profile, the standard as currently published by the GSM Association. We believe the RCS Universal Profile will offer a better interoperability experience when compared to SMS or MMS. This will work alongside iMessage, which will continue to be the best and most secure messaging experience for Apple users,” an Apple spokesperson told Techradar.
22 October 2023: Apple has big plans for AI
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reported that Apple is planning on adding AI to its next iOS update. Gurman said: “The new features should improve how both Siri and the Messages app can field questions and auto-complete sentences, mirroring recent changes to competing services.”
29 September 2023: Apple’s Tim Cook says the company is working on using generative AI
In an interview with Forbes, Tim Cook said: “We’ve been working on generative AI for years and have done a lot of research.” He added: “And we’re going to approach it really thoughtfully and think about it deeply, because we’re fully aware of the not-good uses that it can have, and the issues around bias and hallucination and so forth. You know, we’ve never felt an urgency to be first, we’ve always felt an urgency to be best, and that is how we go into this as well.”
6 September 2023: Apple boosts spending to develop conversational AI
The Information reported that Apple was working on developing AI that “allows iPhone customers to use simple voice commands to automate tasks involving multiple steps”.
19 July 2023: Apple said to be working on AI tools to compete with OpenAI and Google
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reported that Apple was working on artificial intelligence tools that could compete with the likes of ChatGPT. The foundation is said to be referred to as Ajax and the chatbot service is being called Apple GPT by some engineers, it is said.
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