Which iPhones Get Apple Intelligence (and What You Actually Get)

The direct answer: Apple Intelligence works on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, all four iPhone 16 models plus the iPhone 16e, all iPhone 17 models including the 17e, the iPhone Air, and the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and iPhone Duo announced on September 9, 2026. Every other iPhone, including the standard iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, does not support it and never will, because the cutoff is hardware rather than software. Apple states the rule as a model list, not a spec sheet: "iPhone 15 Pro models, and iPhone 16 models or later." If your phone qualifies, the features are free today, built into iOS, and controlled from one place: Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri. Apple maintains the official device list on its requirements page, which it rewrote and retitled How to get the next generation of Apple Intelligence on September 14, 2026, and the current compatible-device list on its Apple Intelligence page.

Key Takeaways

• Supported iPhones: 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, 16 Pro Max, 16e, 17, 17e, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max, iPhone Air, and the new 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max and iPhone Duo. Sources: Apple Support and the compatible-device list on Apple's Apple Intelligence page.
• The cutoff is the chip, not age or price. The standard iPhone 15 runs the older A16 Bionic and misses by one chip generation; the 15 Pro's A17 Pro is the oldest chip Apple supports.
• No software update will add Apple Intelligence to unsupported iPhones; if you want it, the cheapest doors in are the iPhone 16e or a used 15 Pro.
• What you get on iOS 27, which shipped September 14, 2026: everything from iOS 26 (Writing Tools, Genmoji and Image Playground, Clean Up, summaries, Visual Intelligence, Live Translation, ChatGPT in Siri) plus Siri AI, Spatial Reframing and Extend in Photos, a photorealistic Image Playground, Safari tab organizing and price-drop alerts, Call Context, and Write with Siri.
• Siri AI is out, as a beta in English, with five more languages in October. It will not initially be available in the EU on iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch, is not available in China, and is not available to users under 13. Source: Apple's September 14, 2026 launch post.
• Free today is not free forever. Apple's usage limits page, published September 9, 2026, says it "will implement usage limits" on Siri AI, photo editing tools, Image Playground and Shortcuts models, and that "increased access to such features will be available for a fee." The launch-day footnotes say those features "are subject to daily usage limits" now.
• Two features need a newer phone than the rest: customizing how Siri sounds and the new on-device dictation model are limited to the iPhone 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max, iPhone Duo, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air. Source: Apple, footnotes 4 and 6.
• Two gates that are easy to miss: your device language and Siri language must match and be one of Apple's 16 supported languages, and Apple Intelligence does not work on devices bought in China mainland.
• The storage requirement went up on launch day. Apple's requirements page, revised September 14, 2026, now asks for up to 8 GB free on most supported iPhones and up to 14 GB on an iPhone 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max or iPhone Air. It previously asked for about 7 GB across the board.
• iOS 27 itself installs much further down the range than Apple Intelligence does. Apple lists iOS 27 as compatible back to the iPhone 11 and iPhone SE (2nd generation). Those phones get the update and none of the AI in it.
• The redesigned Health app is the next thing gated on this list. Apple says it arrives late 2026 on Apple Intelligence iPhones only, with Health Age needing an Apple Watch. Details in Apple's redesigned Health app explained.
• You can switch all of it off in Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri, or disable individual features per app.

Which iPhones Support Apple Intelligence

Here is the full compatibility picture in one table. The rule behind it is simple: Apple's supported list starts at the iPhone 15 Pro, which is why the line falls in the middle of the iPhone 15 generation.

Apple confirmed the same floor for iOS 27 in June: its Apple Intelligence and Siri AI are "available on iPhone 16 models or later, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max," per the WWDC26 announcement. Apple's September 14, 2026 launch post repeats the same list word for word, so a phone that was supported on iOS 26 is supported on iOS 27.

iOS 27 Runs on Far More iPhones Than Apple Intelligence Does

This is the single most common source of confusion, and Apple keeps the two answers on two different pages. Being offered the iOS 27 update tells you nothing about whether you get Apple Intelligence.

Apple's iOS 27 page lists the update as compatible with every iPhone back to the iPhone 11 and the iPhone SE (2nd generation) and later -- twenty-three models before you reach the ones with any AI in them. So an iPhone 12, an iPhone 13 or an iPhone 14 installs iOS 27 normally, gets the redesign, the parental controls and the rest of the release, and gets no Siri AI, no Writing Tools and no Image Playground.

How Much Storage It Needs (Apple Raised This on Launch Day)

Apple rewrote its requirements page on September 14, 2026 and raised the storage figure it had carried since July. The page, now titled "How to get the next generation of Apple Intelligence," splits the answer by device instead of giving one number:

Two things worth noting about that table. Apple's 14 GB row also covers iPads with an M4 or later and Macs with an M3 or later, in each case with at least 12 GB of unified memory, plus Apple Vision Pro (M5). And the row does not name the iPhone 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max or iPhone Duo, even though the footnotes on apple.com/apple-intelligence put those phones in the same top tier for other features. We are reporting the requirements page as written rather than filling the gap: if you own an iPhone 18 Pro, assume the larger figure.

The practical version: if your iPhone is close to full, Apple Intelligence will not finish setting itself up, and the failure is quiet. Free the space first, then turn it on.

What You Actually Get on iOS 27

Since September 14, 2026, Apple Intelligence on a supported iPhone is one big assistant plus a collection of smaller features. Apple's launch post lists the new ones; the iOS 26 set carries over.

New with iOS 27:

• Siri AI: a rebuilt, conversational Siri that can search your messages, email and photos, act inside apps, and answer questions about what is on your screen. Beta, English only, and not in the EU on iPhone.
• Write with Siri: describe what you need and Siri drafts it almost anywhere you type; Apple Intelligence also proofreads as you type, including in most third-party apps.
• Photos: Spatial Reframing (adjust the camera angle after the shot), Extend (widen a shot), and a stronger Clean Up.
• Image Playground: photorealistic images, generated on Apple's servers, with SynthID labelling promised "later this year."
• Safari: tabs sorted into topics automatically, "Notify Me" alerts for restocks and price drops, and extensions you describe in plain words.
• Call Context in Phone, natural-language event entry in Calendar, and "describe a shortcut" in Shortcuts.

Carried over from iOS 26:

• Writing Tools: proofread, rewrite, and summarize text almost anywhere you can type.
• Image Playground and Genmoji: generate images and custom emoji-style characters.
• Clean Up in Photos: remove photobombers and background objects.
• Notification and mail summaries: collapsed AI summaries of notifications and long messages.
• Priority notifications: time-sensitive items surfaced to the top.
• Visual Intelligence: point the camera (or use a screenshot) to identify things, translate text, or look something up.
• Live Translation: real-time translation in Messages, FaceTime, and phone calls.
• ChatGPT integration: Siri and Writing Tools can hand harder questions to ChatGPT, with your permission per request, no OpenAI account required.

Still to come, per the same post: the redesigned Health app "later this year," and Audio Intelligence (Live Rewind, Siri Recap) in beta in late 2026, which needs an Apple Watch Series 12 or Ultra 4 paired with an iPhone 16 or later, excluding the 16e.

Availability still varies by language and region, and two of those limits catch people out. Apple requires your device language and your Siri language to match, and to be one of the sixteen it supports: English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese. And Apple Intelligence will not work on a supported device purchased in China mainland, or on a device bought elsewhere if you are in China mainland with an Apple Account set to that region. Both rules are on Apple's How to get Apple Intelligence page.

What Requires Newer Hardware

The answer is: exactly two features, and neither is Siri AI. On iOS 26, the feature set was essentially the same on an iPhone 15 Pro as on an iPhone 17 Pro; minor differences were about buttons rather than intelligence (phones without the Camera Control button, like the 15 Pro and 16e, launch Visual Intelligence from the Action button, Control Center, or lock screen instead).

iOS 27 introduced the first real split, and Apple names it in its own footnotes rather than leaving it to reporting. Two features are restricted, and both run a larger model on the phone itself:

Apple states both limits in the footnotes of its Apple Intelligence page and its September 14 launch post, which extend the same tier to iPads with an M4 or later and Macs with an M3 or later, in each case with at least 12 GB of unified memory, and to Apple Vision Pro (M5). Every other supported iPhone, including the base iPhone 17, still gets standard Apple Intelligence and the new Siri AI. It just skips those two.

On Siri specifically: the rebuilt Siri AI that Apple showed at WWDC in June 2026 (conversational, able to search your personal context across apps, with its own app for conversation history) began rolling out as a beta, in English first, on Monday, September 14, 2026, with French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish following in October. Apple states plainly that it will not initially be available in the EU on iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS, that it is not available in China, and that it is not available for users under 13. Mac and Apple Vision Pro users in the EU do get it. Our full Siri AI explainer covers how to get it, what it does and what Apple has said about charging for it.

How to Turn Apple Intelligence On or Off

The whole system has one master switch, and turning it off is reversible at any time:

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap "Apple Intelligence & Siri."
3. Turn "Apple Intelligence" on or off. (First-time setup downloads the on-device models, so stay on Wi-Fi. Apple now asks for up to 8 GB of free storage on most supported iPhones and up to 14 GB on the newest ones -- see the storage section below.)

If you like most of it but not all of it, you can prune instead of switching everything off:

1. Per-app notification summaries: Settings > Notifications > choose an app > turn off "Summarize Notifications".
2. ChatGPT integration: Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > ChatGPT, then turn off "Use ChatGPT."
3. Blocking features for a kid's phone (or your own willpower): Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions, then under Intelligence & Siri set Writing Tools, Image Creation, or AI extensions to "Don't Allow," per Apple's Screen Time guide.

Should You Upgrade Just for Apple Intelligence?

For most people, no. The everyday feature set is genuinely convenient (Clean Up, Live Translation, and call screening get daily use), but nothing in it is transformative enough to justify replacing a working phone, and Siri AI is identical on an iPhone 15 Pro and an iPhone 18 Pro. The calculus shifts only if the new Siri, out since September 14, 2026, delivers: an assistant that can act across your apps starts to resemble the AI agents that OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic are shipping. Meanwhile, remember that you do not need a new phone to use serious AI at all: the best free chatbots run in any browser on any iPhone, and our ChatGPT vs Gemini comparison covers which to pick. And if the AI creeping into your existing apps bothers you more than it helps, we also cover how to turn off Gmail's AI features.

Corrections and Updates

August 30, 2026: we re-checked every claim on this page against Apple's own pages and corrected three.

September 15, 2026: this page said Apple Intelligence "needs 7 GB of storage" and that Apple's requirements page was "last published July 7, 2026." Both were wrong as of the day before. Apple rewrote that page on September 14, 2026, retitled it "How to get the next generation of Apple Intelligence," and raised the storage requirement to up to 8 GB on most supported iPhones and up to 14 GB on an iPhone 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max or iPhone Air, with 1.5 GB on Apple Watch. The summary, the Key Takeaways, the setup steps and a new storage section now carry the current figures. The same revision supplied the EU statement and the language list, which were already correct here. Separately, this page never stated the iOS 27 OS compatibility floor, which is the iPhone 11 and iPhone SE (2nd generation) and later; it now has its own section.