iPhone 16 Apple Intelligence: Network Confirms Wait For Some Users

Apple is rolling out the first features of its much-anticipated Apple Intelligence in October. Unless, that is, your iPhone’s language isn’t U.S. English. New TV advertising in the U.K. has helpfully made clear that the wait in Britain will last until December—a detail that has passed some users by.

There’s no deception here, but not everyone spotted the details. In its Sept. 9 keynote, Apple specifically said that Apple Intelligence will arrive, “starting next month,” as it said in a press release. It went on: “Apple Intelligence features roll out in the U.S., with additional English-language support coming later this year.”

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The full rollout details are, “Apple Intelligence first launches in U.S. English, and will quickly expand to include localised English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. in December. Over the course of the next year, Apple Intelligence will expand to more languages, like Chinese, English (India), English (Singapore), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese, and others.”

In other words, later in the year refers to the last month of the year, though hopefully in time for the holidays.

This doesn’t mean that users in Britain, or France or Italy for that matter, can’t enjoy Apple Intelligence from the second that it releases with iOS 18.1: but you do have to have your iPhone’s device language and Siri language set to English (U.S.) in the Language and Region section of Settings. This is an improvement as in the early stages of the iOS 18.1 beta, you needed to select United States as your region, too, though since this could change other parts of your iPhone, such as units of measurement, Apple changed this requirement.

But it’s worth noting that if your language isn’t U.S. English, then the impact of features such as writing tools will be affected.

So, the new, and rather entertaining “Parent Duty” commercial from the British EE network is useful, confirming to viewers that EE isn’t trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes with its onscreen text pointing out that Apple Intelligence is available in October in U.S. English, and December in U.K. English. The commercial rightly focuses on other details, such as cinematic slow motion on the iPhone 16 Pro, and EE’s prowess in 5G. Apple Intelligence gets a name-check at the very end, and the new Siri animation briefly crosses a parent’s iPhone display.

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