The side of Apple's recently unveiled iphone 16 series features a second camera control button. But don't write it off as just another button for a camera, like the ones seen in numerous smartphones over the years. As a matter of fact, this button initiates what is maybe the finest hardware integration for artificial intelligence in a smartphone to date. This new layer, which apple refers to as visual intelligence, is supported by apple Intelligence, the GenAI features that iOS 18 will bring to iPhones.
 

With the help of apple Intelligence, the iphone can now recognize and respond to your questions using its camera. It can even provide recommendations for you depending on where you are and what to do next. Using the iphone 16 Pro's camera to survey potential filming locations and then make design suggestions for the frame was an intriguing use case.
 

Despite being late to the party, Neil Shah, Partner & Research VP at Counterpoint Research, encapsulates why Apple's approach to AI in smartphones is so different: This begins with hardware and includes capabilities that are powered by a mix of services, software, and silicon. That serves as the primary point of differentiation, offering a solid base. Shah argues that it's critical that apple is addressing AI by combining private computing with on-device AI. customers have complete control and their data is not saved or uploaded to the cloud—this is a novel approach to provide AI to them.
 

Apple's new iphone 16 has an A18 processor, while the iphone 16 Pro series receives the A18 Pro processors, both of which are capable of high-performance processing, in order to enable GenAI across the device. Vice President of Apple's silicon technologies Sribalan santhanam asserts that the A18's CPU "is faster than all the competition, challenging even high-end desktop PCs" and that it "features our latest desktop-class GPU architecture."
 

Pushing the boundaries even further, the iphone 16 Pro is equipped with the A18 Pro processor, which santhanam claims is "even faster and more efficient than the A18" since it makes possible a number of flagship-only capabilities. In comparison to the neural engine in the A17 Pro, which power the iphone 15 Pro series, he claims that the neural engine in the A18 Pro excels at generative AI workloads. In the speech, he states, "It's designed with apple intelligence for even better performance combined with the increased memory bandwidth."
 

However, apple has introduced the idea of Private Cloud Compute, where it employs dedicated servers to execute AI models because it is aware that not all GenAI queries can be completed on-device. Shah claims that this combination of private computing and on-device AI is exclusive. customers have complete control and their data is not saved or uploaded to the cloud—this is a novel approach to provide AI to them.
 

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