iOS 18 will likely be the “biggest” software update in iPhone history

Apple has big plans for iOS 18, according to BloombergMark Gorman.

In the questions and answers section designated for subscribers only employment the news Today, Gorman said iOS 18 has the potential to be the “biggest” software update in iPhone history.

“I've been told that the new operating system is viewed within the company as one of the biggest — if not the biggest — iOS updates in the company's history,” he wrote.

Gorman said he plans to share more details about specific iOS 18 features and planned changes in the future, but we already know of two new features that will likely be included in the update, as seen below.

iOS 18 will be released in September, and the first developer beta will be released during Apple's annual developer conference WWDC in June.

Support RCS

In November 2023, Apple announced that it would support the RCS standard for cross-platform messaging in the Messages app on the iPhone starting “later” in 2024, so it will likely be an iOS 18 feature based on that time frame.

RCS support should bring the following improvements to the default messaging experience between iPhone and Android devices:

• High resolution photos and videos
• Voice messages
• Writing indicators
• Read receipts
• Wi-Fi messaging between iPhone 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

These new features are already available for iPhone-to-iPhone conversations with blue bubbles, via iMessage, and many of the features are also available in third-party messaging apps, such as WhatsApp and Telegram. RCS support on iPhone will extend the features to the green bubbles in the Messages app.

Siri is smarter

Gorman expects iOS 18 to feature generative AI technology that “should improve how both Siri and the Messages app automatically ask questions and complete sentences.” Apple has also explored generative AI features for other apps across its platforms, including Apple Music, Pages, Keynote and Xcode, he said.

the information It was reported that Apple plans to integrate large language models into Siri to allow users to automate complex tasks, a feature that may include deeper integration with the Shortcuts app. The report said that this feature is expected to be released in the next iPhone software update in 2024, which will likely be iOS 18.

Generative AI surged in popularity in 2022 when OpenAI released ChatGPT, a chatbot that can answer questions and other prompts. Google and Microsoft launched similar chatbots last year, with more companies racing into the space. Chatbots are trained on large language models, allowing them to respond like humans.