Apple Intelligence in iOS 18
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The launch and development of Apple Intelligence and other iOS 18 features may impact iOS 19 due to engineers working on AI advancements.
Apple's development of operating system features typically peaks with their introduction in a major fall release. However, the amount of work still being done on iOS 18 could cause problems in iOS 19.
In a report for X, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says he continues to “hear that the gradual rollout of features from iOS 18 to iOS 18.4 is causing delays in some features planned for iOS 19.”
With engineers busy with iOS 18 projects, including intensive work on Apple Intelligence, that means they're not working on projects for the iOS 19 release, Gurman adds.
In turn, the long engineering work on iOS 18 will also lead to a “long-term rollout of features in the next cycle,” and Apple’s teams will be scrambling to catch up. For users, this could mean more announced features for iOS 19, but a longer wait before they are actually implemented in the operating system.
Gurman doesn’t directly mention Apple Intelligence, but given that much of the new features in iOS 18 are tied to it and its extended rollout period, there’s little else that the ongoing work could mean.
While this is a rumor based on a single source, it’s entirely plausible. Development slip-ups are extremely common in the software industry, both for one-off software launches and for more regular updates like operating systems.
Bigger misses could also result in features not being released on their intended release date or even an entire version. Misses are almost a fact of life for developers, and something they constantly have to contend with.
For Apple, the risk is that they won’t be able to add enough new features or other improvements to iOS 19, making it a lackluster update for users. However, since users have become fairly accustomed to the idea of features appearing months after launch, this shouldn’t be a major problem for Apple.
Even with this risk, Apple has a well-established development process and cycle that it has previously demonstrated it can adapt to meet its needs.
In late October 2023, Apple paused development of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and its other major 2024 updates for a week. It was later explained that it was a debug week to make the releases as bug-free as possible.
In 2019, after software crashes were discovered following the launch of the iPhone, Apple made a number of changes to its development process. This also came after Apple had to delay several features intended for iOS 12 to instead appear in iOS 13.
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