Edward Collins 
Jan 29, 2024
As the tech giant Apple is working on the iOS update for the iPhones, Mark Gurman has claimed that the company has big plans for the upcoming iOS update.
Gurman is a Bloomberg correspondent who reports extensively on Apple's entire product lineup, their software and hardware integrations, their updates, and whatever lies inside them.
In the subscriber-only Q&A session of his Power On newsletter, he claimed that the iOS 18 encompasses the capacity to be the biggest update so far in the history of iPhones.
Read more: Beta testers can now access iOS 17.3 RC with Stolen Device Protection feature
"I'm told that the new operating system is seen within the company as one of the biggest iOS updates — if not the biggest — in the company's history," he added. Besides that, he maintained that he will soon unveil more insightful information pertaining the feature richness and the changes planned for the future.
As noted by Mac Rumors, Gurman brought to light two new features which iOS 18 might offer.
Exclusive features of iOS 18
- RCS Support
- Smart Siri
RCS Support
In November last year, Apple announced that iPhones, "later" in 2024, will support cross-platform messaging standard RCS in the Messages app, hinting on the upcoming iOS update to be the flag-bearer of this feature.
The inclusion of RCS support will bring following enhancements to the default messaging experience between iPhones and Android devices:
- Higher-resolution photos and videos
- Audio messages
- Typing indicators
- Read receipts
- Wi-Fi messaging between iPhones and Android devices
- Improved group chats, including the ability for iPhone users to leave a conversation that includes Android users
- Improved encryption compared to SMS
In iMessage, the enlisted features are already available for iPhone-to-iPhone conversations with blue bubbles, while many of the features are also available in third-party messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram.
Read more: iOS 17.3: Fresh features and possible release date
Smart Siri
Gurman anticipates that iOS 18 will include generative AI technology, which is expected to enhance the capabilities of Siri and the Messages app in answering questions and completing sentences.
According to The Information, Apple is planning to integrate large language models into Siri to enable users to automate complex tasks, which would involve deeper integration with the Shortcuts app. This feature is reportedly set to be included in an iPhone software update expected in 2024, likely to be iOS 18.
Generative AI gained popularity in 2022 with the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT, a chatbot capable of responding to questions and prompts. Google and Microsoft also introduced similar chatbots last year as more companies entered the space. These chatbots are trained on large language models, allowing them to respond in a human-like manner.
iOS 18 release date
Although the beta version of the update is slated to be released at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2024) in June, the full-scale, global launch will be observed in September.
