iOS 18 will be Apple's most significant update in years, maybe even ever. It should be packed with new AI features, but it will also be a lot more customisable, at least Mark Gurman claims in his latest newsletter.
Apple will explain iOS 18 in depth during WWDC. It has yet to announce the exact date for this developer event, but chances are it will be held in June 2024. There have long been rumours that iOS 18 will bring improvements mainly in the area of AI; artificial intelligence.
While Apple worked on the Vision Pro, competitors focussed on Generative AI. For example, Google, Samsung, and Xiaomi introduced features to edit, enhance, or generate photos and videos from scratch.
We also saw improvements in voice control, speech-to-text, and automatic text summarisation. And altho Siri has some AI functionality, it is insignificant compared to other intelligent assistants.
Homescreen more customisable?
With iOS 18, Apple hopes to close the AI gap with competitors, but not only that. According to Mark Gurman, Apple is also giving the home screen a redesign. That has barely changed from the very beginning: a grid of ikons. Only since iOS 14 did it become possible to add widgets to the home screen. Now, several years later, we may get even more options.
We don't know which options exactly yet. The answer to that question may lie with the Vision Pro. Perhaps some design aspects of the glasses will find their way back into the phones. iOS 18 will not be available until the fall, at the same time as the launch of the iPhone 16.
