Apple is developing a special AI chip for iPhone

By

A10 Fusion
Custom AI-powered silicon could be Apple's next big thing.
Photo: Apple

Apple is allegedly planning to take its Artificial Intelligence game to an all-new level an AI-powered iPhone chip.

In a race to catch up with the competition at Amazon and Google, Apple has a team of engineers working on a new piece of silicon that’s dedicated to processing artificial intelligence commands which could lead to improved battery life.

“Apple is working on a processor devoted specifically to AI-related tasks,” reports Bloomberg. “The chip, known internally as the Apple Neural Engine, would improve the way the company’s devices handle tasks that would otherwise require human intelligence.”

Facial and speech recognition will be the main tasks the chip is devoted to, according to the site’s sources. Future iPhone prototypes with the Apple Neural Engine are already in testing.

It’s unclear if the chip will make it onto the iPhone 8. Considering super-powered Siri is supposed to be one of the devices main features, it seems like though.

Bt offloading tasks like facial recognition in photos, speech recognition with Siri, and predictive keyboard function to the Apple Neural Engine, iPhones and iPads integrated with the chip should see a big boost in battery life. Apple plans to give developers access to the chip too so that third-party apps can offload AI tasks onto it.

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.