Apple Developing Dedicated AI Chip for Future iPhones
Apple is reportedly developing a dedicated chip for artificial intelligence that will be added on future iPhones.
A source close to the project told Bloomberg that Apple is taking the future iPhones' AI features to the next level as the Cupertino, California, technology firm is reportedly developing a chip called the Apple Neural Engine that will dedicatedly process AI-related tasks.
When future iPhones get an AI-dedicated chip, it is expected to greatly improve the devices' battery performance by relieving their system-on-chip processor of some of the operations that can instead be handled by the Apple Neural Engine.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
It has also been reported that Apple is looking into carrying over tasks such as facial recognition, speech recognition, and predictive typing from the SoC to the Apple Neural Engine. There is also a plan to give developers the ability to design their third-party apps with additional AI-related tasks based on what the Apple Neural Engine can allow.
The development of the AI chip appears to have already made great progress as Bloomberg's source adds Apple has already tested the Apple Neural Engine on some prototypes of the future iPhone models. However, it is highly unlikely that it will be ready for the iPhone 8 that is slated for release later this year.
The report also noted that Apple is actually one of the technology giants that stepped in early to bring AI technology to the consumers. However, it is evident how other major players such as Amazon and Google have expanded their AI development through other consumer products such as Amazon Echo and Google Home.
However, it is also possible that Apple will expand its roster of products and add the Siri Speaker, which is rumored to be unveiled during the Worldwide Developers Conference next month.
Apart from catching up with competitors in the field of AI, former Apple analyst Gene Munster also commented, through Bloomberg, that two particular areas that Apple wants to build its future on - self-driving cars and augmented reality - will benefit a lot once they have developed a dedicated AI chip for them.
