California-based Apple is reportedly preparing to release its first beta for iOS 18.4. This will introduce important updates to Siri along with further enhancements to Apple Intelligence.
According to Apple expert Mark Garman of Bloomberg, the beta version could be available to developers between the next week and the next week.
Historically, Apple has changed the release dates for early updates, with iOS 17.4 Beta 1 being released on January 25th last year, while iOS 16.4 Beta 1 arrived on February 16th. This time, iOS 18.4 is expected to bring much-anticipated advances to Siri, especially for devices that are compatible with Apple Intelligence.
According to Gurman, these improvements include understanding of personal context, on-screen perception, and greater control over the app.
Additionally, this update will introduce priority notifications. This is a feature that leverages AI to automatically highlight key notifications. Apple has also confirmed that IOS 18.4 marks the first extension of Apple Intelligence in a wider range of languages, including Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnam.
Additionally, users can expect fresh emojis following the announcement by the Unicode Consortium. Among the new additions are fingerprints, faces with bags under the eyes, harps, root vegetables, leafless trees, splatters and shovels.
Although the official release date has not been confirmed yet, the excitement of Apple’s upcoming software updates is growing, with AI-powered enhancements and wider language support that can improve the user experience.
Meanwhile, Garman also suggests that Apple is likely to announce the iPhone SE 4 through a press release rather than a dedicated event. Additionally, the phone is expected to be on sale later this month.
According to some media reports, the iPhone SE 4 is a major departure from its predecessor, employing a design similar to the iPhone 14. This could be that traditional thick bezels and touch ID home buttons are a thing of the past, making the full transition to ID beyond Apple’s smartphone range.
