Source: Wall Street News
Author: Bu Shuqing

At the fall press conference that just ended,$Apple (AAPL.US)$As always, there is no explicit mention of AI, but in fact, the “AI content” of Apple's biggest product this year, the iPhone 15, is extremely high.

The A17 Pro, the most powerful chip in Apple history, enables the 15 Pro and Pro Max to provide functions such as more accurate predictive input, including voice isolation and image enhancement.

However,The functions of the iPhone 15 involve more intuitive artificial intelligence (Intuitive AI) than currently the most popular generative artificial intelligence (Generative AI).Intuitive artificial intelligence aims to design AI systems that are more in line with user habits and intuition, making human-computer interaction more natural and smooth. It supports natural interaction methods such as voice and gestures, and can be personalized according to different users, while focusing on protecting privacy.

Analysts believe that although Apple strives to avoid mentioning AI in conference calls or product launches, it is actually actively promoting research and development of AI projects.In the future, mobile phones will be given the mission of powering AI, and Apple may continue to lead the smartphone market with its chip advantages.

iPhone 15, extremely high “AI content”

In the iPhone 15 series, the Pro and Pro Max are equipped with Apple's latest generation self-developed chip A17 Pro, which includes a six-core CPU and a six-core GPU.

The A17 Pro is the first chip in the entire mobile phone industry to use a 3 nm process. Its performance core speed has been increased by 10%, the energy efficiency core speed has also been increased, and the neural engine speed has been increased twice as fast.

Apple said that the A17 Pro can help support more accurate predictive input and other functions,These functions all require the participation of artificial intelligence to implement.

For example, the new “voice isolation” feature on iPhone 15 uses machine learning to recognize and focus sounds to eliminate background noise during phone calls. The camera and image enhancement features also rely on artificial intelligence, including automatically detecting the person, dog, or cat in the photo frame to gather in-depth information to help later turn the photo into a portrait.

After Apple launches the new operating system iOS 17 next week, iPhones will support more features that rely on artificial intelligence, including automatic transcription of voicemails and more extensive keyboard text prediction.

In addition to this, intuitive artificial intelligence has also been applied to some new auxiliary functions.

For example, the new “tap and tell” function in the Magnifier app allows users to point at objects with buttons, such as microwave ovens, and listen to the phone read the buttons their fingers touch. It is friendly to people with visual impairment and low vision.

For users with conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), iOS 17 can synthesize a voice that sounds like their own after they read a 15-minute text prompt. ALS may cause patients to lose the ability to speak.

While none of these are as “dazzling” as chatbots, they can make everyday life a lot easier. Therefore,The launch of the iPhone 15 shows that Apple has chosen an artificial intelligence path different from generative artificial intelligence. By focusing on intuitive artificial intelligence, artificial intelligence becomes a part of life, removing barriers or providing reliable predictions without being aggressive.

Tuong Nguyen, chief analyst in charge of emerging technologies at Gartner, said that smartphones are already difficult to improve with transformative new features, and overall, the launch of the iPhone 15 is not impressive. But Apple is good at designing interfaces that make subtle AI-driven features work.

The AI content of watches and headphones is not low; in fact, Apple is vigorously promoting AI

Apple also unveiled a new-generation smartwatch, the Apple Watch Series 9, at the fall press conference.

This smartwatch is equipped with a brand new S9 SiP chip, which increases GPU performance by 30%. It is also equipped with a neural engine, and the machine learning speed is twice that of the previous generation.

Driven by the S9 chip, the Apple Watch Series 9 further enhances Siri voice support for health data. This is usually an artificial intelligence process that requires the cloud, and can only be done online.Since Series 9 is equipped with a more powerful chip, these artificial intelligence processes can be completed on the device itself.

Series 9 also has a “double click” function, which allows users to control functions on the device by clicking on the index finger and thumb, which requires the participation of artificial intelligence.

Also, on Wednesday, Apple introduced an adaptive audio feature to the AirPods, which can mix music or calls with nearby sounds or ambient sounds. This is also inseparable from artificial intelligence.

Gene Munster, managing director of asset management company Deepwater Asset Management, said in a note on Tuesday:

Apple doesn't like to mention artificial intelligence on conference calls or product launches, leading people to speculate that Apple is lagging behind in exploiting this new paradigm.But the truth is, Apple is actively promoting artificial intelligence.

As artificial intelligence software continues to emerge, mobile phones will be given the mission of powering them, and phones equipped with outdated chips will slowly be eliminated in this dynamic.In terms of artificial intelligence, chips are very important, and Apple is leading the development of chipsto support the implementation of these features.

Although Apple has tried not to talk about generative artificial intelligence at press conferences so far, according to previous media reports, Apple is developing its own generative artificial intelligence framework called Ajax.

editor/tolk