iOS 18.2 could arrive a week earlier than expected, and it will include major Apple Intelligence updates
Normally it’s the big annual iOS updates that are most worth getting excited about, but this year, due to Apple’s decision to roll out Apple Intelligence features gradually, some of the supposedly smaller updates may just be so interesting, and the next one might come out sooner than expected.
According to Mark Gurman, who writes in his Power On newsletter for BloombergiOS 18.2 will be released sometime in the week beginning December 2. Typically, Apple’s iOS x.2 releases land in the second week of December, so that would mean this is about a week earlier than normal.
Thanks to the betas, we already have a good idea of what to expect in iOS 18.2, and that includes ChatGPT integration, Genmoji (which lets you generate custom emoji using AI), and the Image Playground app, which lets you similarly can generate custom images.
Visual intelligence and English options
The update is also expected to bring Visual Intelligence to iPhone 16 series users, allowing you to activate the feature by long-pressing the Camera Control button, then let the phone use AI to provide details on where the camera is pointed at.
Additionally, variants of English other than US English should also start supporting AI with the iOS 18.2 update – so for example, if you’re in the UK and you’ve changed your device and Siri languages to US English to gain access to Apple Intelligence features, you can return to British English.
So this is a big update – at least for anyone with an iPhone that supports Apple Intelligence – and if Gurman is right, it’ll only last about a month. Gurman may also be right, as he has a very good track record on Apple information.
Following the release of iOS 18.2, the next major Apple Intelligence update is expected as part of iOS 18.4, and Gurman says it will include improvements to Siri. However, this apparently won’t arrive until April, while iOS x.4 updates typically arrive in March. So while iOS 18.2 will reportedly arrive a little sooner than expected, iOS 18.4 could arrive later.
