It’s finally the day of the Apple event, and everyone is eagerly awaiting the official launch of the iPhone 17 lineup. 9to5Mac readers are mostly power users, so it’s no surprise that the thing you’re most looking forward to is the unveiling of the iPhone 17 Pro Max – though there is also substantial interest in the all-new iPhone 17 Air.
While we’re expecting a fairly packed event, there’s likely to be one significant difference from last year’s iPhone 16 launch: a conspicuous absence of Apple intelligence promises …
Last year, the event focused heavily on upcoming AI features. This included an impressive-looking video for the iPhone 16 showing off the new capabilities the company said were coming soon.
As we all know, however, the new features turned out not to be coming soon after all. The company was forced to announce a delay, add a disclaimer to its website, and to delete the video.
The debacle saw the company accused of announcing vaporware, and 9to5Mac users voted overwhelmingly in favor of Apple allowing us to choose our own Siri alternative rather than having to wait for the promised new features.
It seems inconceivable that the company hasn’t learned its lesson from this. We can certainly expect coverage of Apple Intelligence features actually launching with iOS 26, but I would think it unlikely the keynote will devote time to those that aren’t yet here.
If you’re playing Apple Event bingo or a drinking game, you can probably safely take a shot each time the company references an Apple Intelligence feature which won’t be available on day one.
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