Apple’s iPhone 16 to put AI features in focus

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 09 (Reuters): Apple on Monday is set to unveil its iPhone 16 lineup, focusing on how its flagship device's features have been infused with artificial intelligence, rather than its usual emphasis on hardware upgrades.
The event at the tech giant's Apple Park headquarters at 10 a.m. PDT follows its developer conference in June during which the company unveiled Apple Intelligence, its take on generative AI that can conjure text, images and other content on command.
It had also showed off an improved version of voice assistant Siri, featuring an integration with ChatGPT, the chatbot developed by Microsoft-backed OpenAI.
The refresh comes as iPhones face stiff competition from Huawei in China, where consumers are hankering for more AI features and are willing to pay for them. Huawei itself has scheduled its own product announcement mere hours after Apple's event. Apple Intelligence must be approved by Beijing in order to be released in the Chinese market. In July, OpenAI blocked access to ChatGPT in China, a move that could impact the chatbot's integration into Siri.
"The Chinese market is hungrier for AI features than the US market," said Ben Bajarin, CEO and principal analyst at Creative Strategies. "It will be very difficult to bring it to China immediately, so they'll be going off the merits of the hardware."
IPhones accounted for more than half of Apple's $383 billion sales last year, and the new devices are an important update for the Cupertino, California-based company that is betting the AI feature will drive consumers to upgrade amid a slowdown in iPhone sales.