iPhone 16 Pro software revealed, Tim Cook’s AI concerns, Apple blocks PC emulation,

Taking a look at this week’s news and headlines from Apple and WWDC, including Apple’s AI fears, iPhone owners losing AI, Apple’s Private Cloud, a new iPhone game mode, the iPad’s biggest change and Apple blocks PC emulation.

The Apple Loop is here to remind you of some of the many discussions surrounding Apple in the past seven days. You can also read my weekly roundup of Android news here on Forbes.

Apple CEO Tim Cook (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)

AFP via Getty Images

iPhone and iOS updates from WWDC

Tim Cook’s team has taken the initiative this week at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference, with artificial intelligence in the spotlight. New versions of the operating systems that Apple will release to the public in September were also raised. Until then, beta testing and developer releases will reveal the software that will power Apple’s iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro handsets, including new accessibility tools:

“Eye tracking makes it possible for people to control iPhone with just their eyes. 19 Music Haptics synchronizes the iPhone’s Taptic engine with the rhythm of songs so that the deaf or hard of hearing can enjoy the Apple Music catalog. 20 And Vocal Shortcuts help people with difficult atypical speech record sounds that trigger specific actions on iPhone.”

(Apple).

Apple Intelligence’s Achilles heel

The big ticket item was, of course, that Apple introduced artificial intelligence (or, as the branding team has labeled it, Apple Intelligence) into its various operating systems. While Tim Cook believes it will benefit users by saving them time, in an interview with the Washington Post, Cook acknowledged Apple’s concern about AI:

“It’s not 100 percent. But I think we’ve done everything we know how to do, including thinking very deeply about the readiness of the technology in the areas we’re using it. So I’m confident it’s going to be very high quality.” high. But I would honestly say it wouldn’t be 100 percent.

(Washington Post)

Limited intelligence for iPhone owners

Apple’s artificial intelligence software has two essential requirements to run on the iPhone. The first is iOS 18, which will be available at the end of the third quarter and will run on iPhones since the iPhone XR of 2018. It will also require at least the latest A17 Pro chip. This excludes any current iPhone except the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max:

“Apple said the limitation is a result of the large amounts of computing power required to run the artificial intelligence models that support the new features. “The underlying underlying models behind these experiences require a large amount of computation,” said the senior vice president of Apple’s machine learning and AI strategy, John Giannandrea “It’s the amount of computing that they require that actually provides that limitation.”

(The Independent).

More AI support for iPad and MacBook

There is less confusion and limitations around Apple’s AI software on the iPad and Mac platforms. Basically, any device using one of the Apple Silicon Mxx series will be able to use the features, which include some iPad Air and iPad Pro models and any Mac going back to the 2020 MacBook Air:

“As for the MacBook Air, it got the M1 chip in 2020. The M1 MacBook Air (2020), M2 MacBook Air (2022), M2 MacBook Air (2023) and M3 MacBook Air (2024) all get Apple’s Intel Core that have appeared.

“With the MacBook Pro laptops, they also got the M1 upgrade in 2020: The Touch Bar 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro (2020) and M2 MacBook Pro (2022) are eligible, as are the 14-inch and 16-inch sizes of the M1 MacBook Pro (2021), M2 MacBook Pro (2023) and M3 MacBook Pro (2023).

(TechRadar).

Apple’s AI server

Of all the great AI tools, emoji creation and text generation, perhaps the biggest announcement at WWDC belonged to the team behind Private Cloud Compute. This is Apple’s solution for processing user data in the cloud, balancing the need to process information off-device and keeping that information private. The devil will be in the details… and the code:

“But you shouldn’t just trust Apple at this point, Federighi asserted. That’s because the server code used by Private Cloud Compute will be publicly accessible, meaning that “independent experts can inspect the code running on these servers to verify this. the promise of privacy.” The entire system is cryptographically configured so that Apple devices “will refuse to talk to a server unless its software is publicly registered for inspection.”

(Ars Technica).

A new way to play iPhone

Apple continues to push iOS as a gaming platform, and while the catalog of flagship titles is a fraction of other platforms, Tim Cook and his team are continuing to build the platform in the hope that they will come. Debuting in iOS 18 will be Game Mode… when your phone recognizes that a demanding game is running, it will enter Game Mode and do the following:

“Minimize your iPhone’s background activity so it can maintain consistently high frame rates, even after hours of gaming; Massively reduce lag when using a Bluetooth game controller; Similarly reduce lag when using AirPods for audio.”

(9to5Mac).

The iPad’s biggest change

It only took fourteen years, but the iPad software suite is finally complete. Following the release of Weather in 2022, WWDC saw an iPadOS update that includes a calculator. Did it really take that long to add stylus support?

“On the surface, the app looks a lot like the calculator you might be familiar with from iOS. But it also supports Apple Pencil, which means you can write down math problems and the app will solve them thanks to a feature which Apple calls Math Notes.

(The Verge).

And finally…

While emulating a retro gaming system is now allowed in Apple’s App Store (and subsequent installation on your iPhone), emulating a retro computer system is still blocked. While the developers of the open source app, UTM, won’t challenge the decision (in part due to Apple’s refusal to allow JIT on iOS), many will be drawn to something a little more subtle… Apple has also blocked the app from appearing in any third-party app store:

“The open source app was submitted to the store, given the recent rule change that allows retro game console emulators like Delta or Folium. App review rejected UTM, ruling that a “PC does not it’s a keyboard”. What’s more surprising is that UTM says Apple is also blocking the app from being listed on third-party app stores in the EU.”