What’s happening on the AI front at Apple? Plenty. During Apple’s quarterly earnings call on Thursday afternoon, CEO Tim Cook mentioned that the company is working on generative AI software features that will make their way to customers “later this year”, meaning updates in iOS 18 could be massive.

With today’s generative AI breakthroughs, many daily activities may become simpler. We have already seen how the Rabbit R1 — an AI-powered gadget — is setting out to do just that. Ask the Rabbit what you want and it will interface with your apps to complete the task on your behalf. Essentially, it’s a voice-first AI-powered device. We’ve seen Google integrate AI into their Pixel phones and Samsung do the same with the introduction of the Galaxy S24 series. So the question is: ‘Where is Apple in all of this?’
Microsoft and Google have been talking about AI in a big way but Apple has been the quiet player. The Cupertino-based company has not shouted out any AI feature in any of their products but behind the scenes they’ve been actively working in this area for a long time.

In the past eight or 10 years, Apple has acquired a number of AI companies, like Emotient, Laserlike and WaveOne. Instead of separating AI features to talk about it, Apple keeps embedding many of these meaningful technologies into the company’s continuously upgraded smartphones, computers and watches, streaming music and television services and operating systems. Apple is reportedly spending about $1b per year in AI ventures.

Apple has been tinkering with AI for long

This silence is typical of the company. They move decisively when it comes to presenting innovations. Apple didn’t create the smartphone, tablet or smartwatch but they revolutionised all of these categories by doing it better than others.

In August 2023, Cook revealed that the company had been researching generative AI for years on a call with investors. He said: “Of course we’ve been doing research across a wide range of AI technologies, including generative AI, for years. We’re going to continue investing, and innovating, and responsibly advancing our products with these technologies, with the goal of enriching people’s lives. That’s what it’s all about for us. As you know, we tend to announce things as they come to market, that’s our M.O., and I’d like to stick to that.”

We are going crazy over ChatGPT but Apple was tinkering with similar concepts even before the pandemic. In 2020, the company assembled a “foundation model”, according to The Information, and the idea is to develop conversational AI with a focus on on-device machine learning and privacy. The team is led by John Giannandrea, Apple’s head of AI, who joined in 2018 to improve Siri.

Siri may play a big role

Bloomberg reported last year that Apple’s large language model is called Ajax GPT and it is said to outperform GPT 3.5. There’s even chatter about Apple working on an AI powered chatbot dubbed Apple GPT that’s based on Ajax.

File picture of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus on display during the 'Wonderlust' event at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California, on September 12, 2023

Apple has quietly released frameworks and model libraries designed to run on its chipset and may even bring generative AI apps to MacBooks. Siri, an Apple acquisition in 2010, may have a large role to play in Apple’s ‘AI future’.

What remains to be seen is how Apple tackles its strategy of having control over user experience with the freedom that comes with generative AI responses.

According to Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter, the upcoming iOS 18 may introduce significant updates to the iPhone and Siri. What if Apple uses a large language model to make Siri smarter? That may enable Siri to perform complex tasks from a simple voice command.

Advantage Apple

Apple enjoys a massive advantage: There are Apple devices with over a billion users. Apple can leverage on-device or Edge AI (runs AI algorithms processing data locally), which is unlike Cloud computing for large language models. Edge AI runs on the device, eliminating the need for Cloud servers or an Internet connection. It can offer faster, more secure and more reliable performance for AI computing.

In 2020, Xnor.ai was acquired by Apple. Xnor.ai started as a process for making machine learning algorithms efficient enough to run on even the lowest tier of hardware out there. Using Xnor’s algorithms object recognition can be possible, which in other circumstances may require a connection to the Cloud.

Apple now has ARM-based chips with custom neural processing units built for their laptops, watches, phones and tablets. Being in complete control of both hardware and software components gives a tighter integration and efficiency than the competition. It’s a great position for Apple to be in for on-device AI systems.

The company said its M3 Max processor for the MacBook, revealed in October, “unlocks workflows previously not possible on a laptop”. And the S9 chip for the Apple Watch, unveiled in September, allows Siri to access and log data without connecting to the Internet while the A17 Pro chip in the iPhone 15 has a neural engine that the company says is twice as fast as previous generations.

Apple’s advantage is unique: Compared to other large-language model builders they have devices in the hands of consumers and once they have features embedded in iOS, for example, you can have that feature pushed out to hundreds of millions of users overnight and it’s an advantage no one else has.

Apple doesn’t discuss future technology and for the moment, we only have Cook’s remarks: “As we look ahead, we will continue to invest in these and other technologies that will shape the future. That includes artificial intelligence, where we continue to spend a tremendous amount of time and effort, and we’re excited to share the details of our ongoing work in that space later this year.”

Tech enthusiasts believe that Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, usually held in June, will be where the company will reveal more.

India’s love for the iPhone

Apple is turning in great results around the globe and India is very much a part of the big picture. There are a few crucial takeaways from Apple’s first-quarter results as well as recent figures that CounterPoint Research released around Apple’s India performance in 2023. Seen together, several things come together.

Apple has announced its Q1 2024 earnings and it shows that the iPhone remains a bestseller after all these years. This is the first full quarter report of iPhone 15 sales and Apple reported iPhone unit revenue of $69.7b. The news comes close on the heels of the company surpassing Samsung and taking lead position for global smartphone sales. On the whole, Apple reported revenue of $119.58b, easily surpassing Wall Street expectations.

India continues to hit high notes and Apple CEO Tim Cook and the company’s CFO Luca Maestri have put that out. The company has set all-time records in several countries and regions, including Latin America, Western Europe, the Middle East, and Korea, as well as December quarter records in India and Indonesia.

If you are wondering how the company is doing in India, CounterPoint Research shared some figures a few days ago. Apple shipments crossed the 10-million mark in 2023, helping it capture the top position in revenue for the first time ever in a calendar year. In 2022, Apple shipped over six million iPhones.

“We are pleased to announce that our installed base of active devices has now surpassed 2.2 billion, reaching an all-time high across all products and geographic segments,” Cook said.