Apple's AI Anxiety: From Marathon to Sprint, Can Apple Intelligence Still Win the Race?

Apple's AI Anxiety: From Marathon to Sprint, Can Apple Intelligence Still Win the Race?Looking at the iPhone's evolution, Apple often appears as a "follower." Fingerprint recognition, dual cameras, and bezel-less displays weren't Apple inventions, yet they consistently delivered superior user experiences that conquered the market

Apple's AI Anxiety: From Marathon to Sprint, Can Apple Intelligence Still Win the Race?

In 2007, the original iPhone revolutionized the smartphone industry, establishing Apple as a disruptive innovator. In 2024, the announcement of Apple Intelligence at WWDC seemed to herald another revolution. However, even after the iOS 18.4 update, Apple Intelligence remains unavailable in mainland China. Every new iPhone boasts "Get ready for Apple Intelligence," yet users find themselves purchasing new devices while competitors sprint ahead in the AI arena, with models iterating at breakneck speed. Perhaps the only ones truly unprepared for Apple Intelligence are Apple themselves.

Looking at the iPhone's evolution, Apple often appears as a "follower." Fingerprint recognition, dual cameras, and bezel-less displays weren't Apple inventions, yet they consistently delivered superior user experiences that conquered the market. Touch ID spurred a wave of front-facing fingerprint scanners; the iPhone 7 Plus's telephoto and wide-angle dual camera setup became the industry standard, its seamless camera switching still unmatched; and its COP packaging and gesture controls on the edge-to-edge screen are now features on many flagship competitors.

Apple maintains a deliberate, unhurried pace, launching products only when deemed perfect. This strategy, akin to a marathon runner unconcerned with early-stage performance, has yielded remarkable success, not just with the iPhone, but also with AirPods in the Bluetooth headphone market and Apple Pencil in the stylus market. Even the failure of AirPower didn't significantly damage its brand image, with MagSafe offering a compelling alternative.

However, this "marathon" strategy is facing challenges. The new CarPlay, announced in 2022 and promised for "next year," is still absent. While Apple's website once featured it, the orange text stating "First compatible vehicles will be available in 2024 (yes, it was delayed)" has quietly vanished. Meanwhile, Chinese manufacturers have rapidly advanced their smart driving and in-car technology, seizing market leadership.

Similar issues plague Apple's AI efforts. Features announced at WWDC 24, such as large language model-integrated voice assistance, Writing Tools, and Image Playground, appeared first on competitor devices not just domestically, but globally. Samsung and Google have also aggressively rolled out numerous AI features like Gemini Assistant, Gemini Live, and Galaxy AI, showcasing their AI progress despite challenges.

In today's rapidly evolving and fiercely competitive AI landscape, can Apple maintain its "marathon" mentality? Apple seems to believe it can, but the problem is that Apple Intelligence currently underperforms. While unavailable in China, its overseas launch last October has yielded a less-than-stellar experience, best summarized as "laborious."

iOS 18.1 introduced Writing Tools and notification summaries; iOS 18.2 brought Smart Emojis and Image Playground; iOS 18.3 added visual intelligence features. These rollouts are erratic and inconsistently received. Users find ChatGPT often surpasses Apple Intelligence; others complain about iPhone 15/15 Plus incompatibility while the iPhone SE 4 (later iPhone 16e) supports it; and Writing Tools, while useful, is criticized for not leveraging ChatGPT.

Notably, Apple has yet to release any hands-on videos of Apple Intelligence, much like AirPower and the new CarPlay only renders exist. This suggests the fully mature Apple Intelligence launch is further off than anticipated, both by Apple and its users. The only ones truly unprepared for Apple Intelligence are Apple themselves.

Further fueling the anxiety are allegations from Clarkson Law Firm, accusing Apple of "misrepresenting the capabilities of its artificial intelligence, leading consumers to believe their devices possess functionalities that either do not exist or are severely misrepresented." Apple has released numerous Apple Intelligence ads in the past six months, only to pull them for various reasons. Furthermore, after multiple Siri delays, Mike Rockwell's takeover of the Siri team, involving significant leadership changes, highlights Apple's struggles in the AI space.

Late last year, SellCell's survey revealed that roughly half of iPhone users considered AI "very important" or "somewhat important" when upgrading. However, hardware limitations of 16GB computers and 8GB phones, combined with unfulfilled promises, make it difficult to attract users to Apple.

In just one week, DeepSeek updated its V3 model, ChatGPT 4.0 added image generation and multi-instruction parsing, Google launched Gemini 2.5, and Alibaba released the multimodal large model Qwen 2.5-Omni. Currently, Apple Intelligence seems like a visually appealing but ultimately underwhelming ChatGPT clone, not worth the hype. The most tangible benefit of Apple Intelligence is simply larger memory in newer devices.