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iOS 18.2 public release date pushed up for an earlier launch

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3 weeks ago

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iOS 18.2 public release date pushed up for an earlier launch

The public release of iOS 18.2 has reportedly been scheduled for an earlier release date than before. Previously believed to be coming out almost 10 days into December, the new release date is reportedly December 2.

Bloomberg’s Apple insider Mark Gurman revealed the new date in the latest edition of his newsletter Power On. He also reiterated his previous claim that iOS 18.4 — a major update for Apple Intelligence — will be released in April of next year. In addition to a massive overhaul of Siri, iOS 18.4 will allegedly bring Apple’s AI to the EU. Plans to bring Apple Intelligence to China are still not under consideration according to Gurman.

The main upgrades that iOS 18.2 will bring to the iPhone 16 are related to Apple Intelligence. This staggered rollout of the heavily marketed AI features has resulted in decreased sales leading to iPhone 16 production being cut down. Apple is also going back on its word and not fully releasing Apple Intelligence on iPhone 15 Pro, perhaps in an attempt to move more iPhone 16 stock.

Apple Intelligence promises a lot…when it’s available that is. | Video credit — Apple

With iOS 18.2 users will get access to new Apple Intelligence features including:

  • Image Playground, where you can generate images via text prompts
  • Genmoji, which can be used to generate custom emojis
  • ChatGPT integration with Siri
  • Visual Intelligence, used to identify objects in a photo or understand text
  • More options for AI-powered writing tools

Other than Apple Intelligence features there is another really welcome change that might make it to the public release. The Beta version of iOS 18.2 allows users around the world to manage default apps. This was thought to be coming only to the EU but if the Beta works worldwide then the public release might too.

And if Apple is willing to allow that, who knows, we might one day see the EU-exclusive third party NFC payments and alternative app stores as well. As for people who couldn’t care less about AI, tough luck. Apple is going all in on Apple Intelligence and major iOS updates will heavily revolve around it for the foreseeable future.

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