iOS 18.2 is Reportedly Coming in December With Image Generation Features

Apple Intelligence will likely be a key focus of Apple’s iPhone 16 event later today, even though the company’s personal intelligence system won’t be publicly available until the release of iOS 18.1 in October. In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that the image generation features that Apple discussed at its WWDC conference in June won’t be ready until iOS 18.2, which may be coming in December.

“Apple made the decision to delay its new image-generation features to iOS 18.2 (rather than 18.1), which is scheduled for release in December,” Bloomberg wrote. “That includes the Image Playground app and the Genmoji capability, which uses AI to make emoji based on inputted text.”

Image Playground is Apple’s take on OpenAI’s DALL·E image generation technology. It will be available across various apps including Messages, Notes, and it will also exist as a standalone app. Apple said that all images will be created directly on devices eligible for Apple Intelligence, which means that there will be no limitation on the amount of images users can create.

Genmoji is another new Apple Intelligence feature that Apple announced at WWDC, and it will let users create original emoji using a natural language prompt. This feature, which is reportedly coming in iOS 18.2 alongside Image Playground, will also let users create Genmoji of people using their photos.

At launch, Apple Intelligence will be available on the iPhone 16 family, last year’s iPhone 15 Pro, as well as all iPads and Macs using Apple Silicon chips (M1 or newer). Apple is a company that slowly iterates, and the gradual rollout of Apple Intelligence features suggests that it’s unlikely that the new generative AI features kick off a new upgrade cycle in the coming months. Apple also confirmed that Apple Intelligence won’t be launching in the EU and China this year.