Thanks to Apple Intelligence: iOS 18.1 in high demand
Normally, people at Apple also take their time updating to point releases. According to Apple, this is not the case with iOS 18.1.
Apple Intelligence lettering: There are still only text generators and a photo clean-up function – but users are still interested.
(Image: Apple)
According to Apple, the rate of upgrades from iOS 18 to iOS 18.1 has more than doubled compared to the upgrade from iOS 17 to iOS 17.1 in 2023. The reason is said to be the activation of Apple Intelligence. Apple CEO Tim Cook said this last week in an interview with the US stock market channel CNBC. "We're already getting great feedback from customers and developers, and really early statistics, just three days' worth of data, show that Users are adopting iOS 18.1 twice as fast as they adopted 17.1 in the same quarter last year."
Little support for Apple Intelligence
The rapid changeover is also interesting because Apple Intelligence only runs on a few models. In addition to the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, all variants of the iPhone 16 are mobile. On the iPad, Apple tablets with M1 SoC and higher as well as the new iPad mini 7 with A18 Pro are supported. Nevertheless, according to Cook, users will update faster, even if they may not benefit from the new AI system. Incidentally, this also applies within the EU, where Apple Intelligence can currently only be used on iPhones and iPads with tricks. The official European launch is not planned before April 2025.
iOS and iPadOS 18.1 was released last Monday. The AI functions that have already been activated include generative writing tools, an image cleaner for the Photos app, summaries of notifications and emails and a new look for Siri, which now allows you to cancel and restart requests. Apple will only deliver image generators with iOS and iPadOS 18.2, as well as the announced ChatGPT integration.
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Why iOS 18.1 is worthwhile even without AI
However, iOS 18.1 also contains bug fixes and other improvements that make an update interesting even for users without a device that supports Apple Intelligence. For owners of the AirPods Pro 2, Apple has activated new hearing test and hearing aid functions, a slightly improved Control Center with its own Wi-Fi and Airdrop controls and RCS business messaging for communication with Android users in the business sector.
Apple has also equipped the App Store with an improved search function that now also understands queries in natural language. Bug fixes include problems with car keys and backups, 4K 60 fps playback and podcast errors.
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