Apple continues AI roll-out to iPhones with customised emojis amid holiday shopping season

The iPhone’s upgraded operating system, iOS 18.2, extends Apple’s expansion into AI as it chases Samsung and Google

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The new iPhone 16 is displayed during an announcement of new products at Apple headquarters on September 9 in Cupertino, California. Photo: AP

Published: 12:30pm, 12 Dec 2024

Apple is pumping more artificial intelligence (AI) into the latest iPhones during the holiday shopping season with a free software update that includes a feature that enables users to create customised emojis within a matter of seconds.

The Wednesday release of the iPhone’s upgraded operating system, iOS 18.2, extends Apple’s expansion into AI months after rivals such as Samsung Electronics and Google began implanting the revolutionary technology on their devices. The update builds upon another one that came out in late October to usher in the AI era for Apple and the iPhone, as well as for the iPad and Mac.

The latest round of AI tricks includes “Genmojis”, Apple’s description for emojis that iPhone users will be able to ask the technology to create and then share. Apple says it is placing some limits its AI’s emoji artistry to prevent the distribution of violent or hateful imagery. Other features include an “Image Playground” for a variety of AI-styled illustrations, writing tools and options for summarising emails.

The technology will not work on iPhones that Apple made before 2023 because it requires a special processor that isn’t in older models. The AI will work on the iPhone 16 line-up that came out in September and the premium iPhone 15 models released last year.

That exclusivity is expected to propel a cycle of iPhone upgrades during the current holiday shopping season into next year, driving up Apple’s profit even higher from the US$94 billion that the Cupertino, California, company pocketed in its last financial year ending in September. That expectation is the main reason Apple’s stock price has climbed by about 30 per cent so far this year to push the company’s market value closer to the US$4 trillion threshold for the first time.

Apple is broadening the AI suite’s appeal by including English versions tailored for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK that are included in the latest software update.