What is Apple Intelligence?
Quick answer
Apple Intelligence is Apple's umbrella AI system — the on-device and cloud models, plus features like writing tools, image generation, summaries, and the new Siri AI. Introduced in 2024 and significantly expanded at WWDC 2026, it coordinates between models on your device and Apple's Private Cloud Compute, now with Google's Gemini powering its most demanding cloud tasks.
The system, not a single feature
Apple Intelligence is the layer underneath the features. It combines fast, private on-device foundation models with Private Cloud Compute for heavier requests, and — new at WWDC 2026 — a "system orchestrator" that decides where each request should run. Apple also announced a second generation of its Apple Foundation Models that can understand speech and read text and images.
What it powers
Siri AI is the headline, but Apple Intelligence also drives Writing Tools (draft, rewrite, and adjust tone), summaries for Mail and notifications, image features like Genmoji and Image Playground, and Visual Intelligence. WWDC 2026 added more: tab management in Safari, one-tap password updating, cross-app context awareness, AI reply suggestions in Messages, and a Phone app that can pull context from Mail and Messages mid-call.
Where Gemini fits
On-device tasks run on Apple's own models. The most demanding cloud reasoning is reportedly handled by a custom Google Gemini model, run inside Apple's infrastructure rather than on Google's servers. See Apple's Gemini deal, explained.
Availability
Apple Intelligence expands with iOS 27, macOS 27, and the other fall 2026 releases. Some features are device- and region-dependent, so what you see depends on your hardware and where you are.
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