iOS 18.2 finally brings AI smarts to the iPhone in the UK, but is yours compatible?

Whether you’re sporting a new iPhone 16 or you’ve stuck with your current model, today a number of Apple devices can upgrade to the tech giant’s latest iOS 18.2, giving users in the UK the first taste of Apple Intelligence. But who can get Apple’s fancy new iOS 18.2 AI features, and who will miss out?

Although the iPhone 16 was released with iOS 18 at launch, it didn’t come with any of the cool Apple Intelligence features, with most users having to wait until October to sample them out.

Now, Apple has launched iOS 18.2, bringing onboard features like Image Playground, Genmoji and visual intelligence to users in the UK for the first time. Image Playground lets you create pictures from text prompts; Genmoji gives you the ability to create entirely new custom emojis simply by describing what you want or plugging in photos of your friends; and visual intelligence is an iPhone 16 exclusive feature that lets users point their camera at anything in the real world to get more information about it.

While Siri has had a full-screen redesign, its personalised, useful and human-like responses still aren’t here in iOS 18.2. Once available, it will be able to pull your vital information from across apps and hand your question over to ChatGPT for any queries it can’t handle on device.

Every phone with an A12 Bionic chip or later can download iOS 18.2, but only the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max and the full iPhone 16 range will be able to access the new AI features. Users in the UK no longer need to set their device language and Siri language to English (United States) either – AI has officially landed in the UK.

If your phone can’t receive the Apple Intelligence features, you still get the phone call recorder, which can create transcriptions in the notes app, as well as a natural language search in the App Store, new buttons in the control centre and the new hearing health features on the AirPods Pro 2. So, which devices can upgrade to iOS 18.2, and which devices get Apple Intelligence?

The new iOS 18.2 update rolled out to devices on Wednesday 11 December. Make sure your iPhone is either fully charged or plugged in before you start the update and that you have enough storage space to download it.

If you downloaded iOS 18 in September, you’ll also be able to get the free iOS 18.2 update. As before, you need to have an iPhone with an A12 Bionic chip or later. That’s because the A12 has what Apple calls a neural engine. Any iPhone without this chip or better would be too slow to run the new operating system efficiently.

The iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR are the oldest iPhones that support iOS 18. Here’s the list of compatible iPhones in full:

Here’s where things get more complicated. While the iPhones we’ve just mentioned can all upgrade to iOS 18.2, only the very latest iPhones can access the new Apple Intelligence features found on iOS 18.2.

This is because Apple Intelligence runs mostly on-device, and your iPhone will need a lot of specialised processing power to use it. That means you’ll need a Mac or iPad with an M1 chip or later. The pool of iPhones that support Apple Intelligence is even smaller.

You’ll need an iPhone with an A17 Pro chip or better. Besides the newly-released iPhone 16 range, which uses the new A18 chip, the only iPhones with Apple Intelligence are the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. The base iPhone 15 won’t get Apple Intelligence, because it uses the older A16 chipset.

Here’s the full list of iPhone and Apple devices compatible with Apple Intelligence:

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The best way to buy the new iPhone 16 is to get it directly from Apple. You can get it with zero per cent finance, spreading the cost over 24 months with no interest to pay.

The base iPhone 16 costs £799, or £33.29 per month, while the top-end iPhone 16 Pro Max costs £1,199, or £49.95 per month. Pair your new iPhone with a SIM-only deal from one of these carriers to get the best value deal on the new iPhone 16.

If you’re mid-contract or an existing customer looking to upgrade, it’s always worth checking out your current provider’s deals on the new iPhone 16. The four big networks, Vodafone, EE, O2 and Three have some iPhone 16 deals. The major carriers offer all kinds of bundle deals, like free Disney+ subscriptions, trade-in offers and brand freebies so they can work out cheaper than a SIM-only plan if you know you’ll make use of the extras.

For the latest discounts on phones and other tech offers, try the links below:

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