Apple pitches its new phones, watches, and AirPods as vehicles for AI

Apple's latest hardware event showcased how its devices are being designed to be intelligent personal hubs, leveraging AI capabilities. CEO John Ternus highlighted the iPhone 18 series, the Duo foldable phone, AirPods 5, and Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 as being "purpose built" to serve as users' own intelligent personal devices.

The new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max models feature a second "neural engine" accelerator, doubling compute power for running on-device AI models compared to previous chip generations. The centerpiece of the new iPhones is Siri AI, now powered by Apple Intelligence, which can draw on personal context to assist users in various tasks across messages, emails, and photos.

Siri AI will remain in beta even after the new OS versions, according to an analyst. The Duo's foldable design allows for conversation with Siri while viewing content on the other screen. The iPhone's Camera app now includes Siri mode, enabling real-time analysis and automatic photo capture, along with AI-driven features like Spatial Reframing, Extend, and Clean Up.

The AirPods 5 boast improved active noise cancellation and discreet head nod/shake controls to respond to Siri AI. AirPods also offer live translation, a feature introduced last year. The Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 introduce "audio intelligence" features, such as Sound Recognition to identify and alert users to specific sounds, Live Rewind to summarize recent conversations, and Siri Recap to generate titles and key points from conversations.

Privacy is emphasized, with the Watch's S11 chip featuring a secure exclave for processing and immediately deleting audio data. The new Health app uses AI to offer personalized health insights and evaluate workout movements through the phone's camera.