Having seen the demos, we’re eager to test out Apple Intelligence for ourselves – but the suite of AI features that Apple is introducing with iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15 Sequoia aren’t coming to all of the devices that support those software updates.
As well as the latest software, you’re also going to need certain hardware requirements on your device to support Apple Intelligence. That’s because a lot of the necessary AI processing is done locally, rather than in the cloud, and your iPhone, iPad, or Mac needs a modern processor inside to be able to cope.
If you’re wanting to try out the article summary, text rewriting, and image generation capabilities of Apple Intelligence, you’re going to need one of the devices below. Note however that even when iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS 15 Sequoia roll out in full later in the year, Apple Intelligence will still have a ‘beta’ tag attached, so expect some bugs.
Apple has also said the AI features will “initially be available in US English”, so it’s not yet clear how quickly they’re going to roll out internationally. If you’re not in the US, you might have to be patient a while longer.
If all you want is a quick check, here’s the full list of devices that support Apple Intelligence, with more details further down:
Apple Intelligence compatibility: iPhones
If you want to use Apple Intelligence on an iPhone, you’re going to need a handset with an A17 Pro chipset inside it: right now, that means you’re limited to the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max, though come September we would expect it to apply to the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max as well.
You won’t be able to use Apple Intelligence on the iPhone 15 or the iPhone 15 Plus, because those phones use the A16 Bionic chip. Apple says the Neural Engine on the A17 Pro – the part of the chip that handles AI processing – is twice as powerful as it is on the A16 Bionic, and all of that power is needed for Apple Intelligence.
Apple Intelligence compatibility: iPads
With iPads, as with iPhones, it’s all about the processors running inside the hardware. In the case of iPads, you need at least an M1 chip – it has a 16-core Neural Engine for AI tasks, capable of getting through an impressive 11 trillion operations per second.
That rules out the cheapest entry-level iPad, but it does mean the 5th-gen M1 iPad Air (2022) and 6th-gen M2 iPad Air (2024) get Apple Intelligence, as do the 5th-gen M1 iPad Pro (2021), 6th-gen M2 iPad Pro (2022), and 7th-gen M4 iPad Pro (2024).
Apple Intelligence compatibility: Macs
When it comes to AI-capable chipsets inside Macs, again we’re looking at the M1, made with an Apple Silicon design – Intel chips don’t qualify. As long as your Mac has Apple Silicon inside, you can take advantage of Apple Intelligence.
As far as the MacBook Air goes, it got the M1 chip in 2020. The M1 MacBook Air (2020), M2 MacBook Air (2022), M2 MacBook Air (2023), and M3 MacBook Air (2024) all get the Apple Intelligence goodies that have been showcased.
With the MacBook Pro laptops, they too got the M1 upgrade in 2020: the 13-inch Touch Bar M1 MacBook Pro (2020) and M2 MacBook Pro (2022) qualify, as do the 14-inch and 16-inch sizes of the M1 MacBook Pro (2021), M2 MacBook Pro (2023), and M3 MacBook Pro (2023).
Over to the desktop units, and you’ll be able to use Apple Intelligence on the M1 iMac (2021), the M3 iMac (2023), the M1 Mac mini (2020), the M2 Mac mini (2023), the M1 Mac Studio (2022), the M2 Mac Studio (2023), and the M2 Mac Pro (2023).
Apple Intelligence compatibility: what doesn’t support it?
Apple is making a big song and dance about the new AI tricks coming to its platforms, but they’re not going to be available on every Apple device you use. For example, you won’t find them built into the Apple Watch – not even the premium Apple Watch Ultra 2. That may change in the future, but there’s no sign of it yet.
We haven’t heard anything about Apple Intelligence appearing on the Apple Vision Pro or the Apple TV streaming boxes either. This is most likely because of the various demands that AI processing puts on the hardware, which need one of the high-end, AI-equipped chipsets that we’ve already mentioned.
You might also like
