Apple Intelligence in iPhone 17: AI was practically invisible at new phone launch, does health tech in AirPods, Watch make up for it?

Technology

AI

Opinion

Tim Biggs Consumer Technology Writer Updated September 15, 2025 — 1.06pm first published at 11.00am

Apple hasn’t handled the sudden demand for generative AI products particularly well. It made too big a deal about its Apple Intelligence suite and a much smarter and proactive Siri but the actual implementation was underwhelming or did not show up at all.

It’s become a familiar refrain at this point for analysts, industry watchers and some users to say that Apple is “behind” on AI, or that it is “playing catch-up”. And to be sure, Apple seemed to avoid the subject as much as possible at its iPhone 17 reveal event earlier this week.

But to what extent does Apple actually need to develop and deploy its own generative AI?

Google’s current phones are