“Hey Siri, will Apple Intelligence come to Vision Pro?” Yes, but not yet…

Apple took to the stage during its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June this year to not only reveal the upcoming features heading to its devices, but the company's version of AI – not "artificial intelligence", but Apple Intelligence. Confusing, we know.

What was interesting about the Apple Intelligence announcement was that Apple only promised it for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Nothing was mentioned for Apple Watch or Vision Pro.

Admittedly, Apple Watch probably wouldn't benefit that much from AI – or at least not the features announced for Apple Intelligence so far – but Vision Pro would, especially in its drive to be a spatial computer. 

Mark Gurman of Bloomberg has said that this will change, however. In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman said he has been told Apple is "actively working" on bringing the Apple Intelligence features to Vision Pro, but he added that it wouldn't happen this year. 

Neither point is overly surprising to be honest. If Vision Pro is going to be a decent productivity tool, then the AI tools promised by Apple Intelligence, like Writing Tools, Priority Messages in Mail, using natural language to search Photos, and the new Siri, would all make sense in Vision Pro. Meanwhile, if Apple Intelligence was going to be an imminent addition to the headset, Apple would have listed it alongside Mac, iPad and iPhone in June.

Still, it's great news for those that are planning to invest in the Vision Pro headset when it arrives in the UK later this month. It still offers plenty without Apple Intelligence so there's a lot to keep you entertained while you wait for the introduction of the extra tools. 

Gurman doesn't say when Apple's AI suite might appear on the headset, though he does say it "shouldn’t be a major engineering task, given that visionOS is a variant of the existing iPadOS software".

He does add that it will be a bigger task to make sure it looks right in the mixed-reality environment, though having tried Vision Pro, we can already see Siri's new colourful border lighting up the edges of the huge display.

Apple Vision Pro will be available to buy in the UK from 12 July for a cool £3,499. The headset is already available in the US, and that's perhaps something else to factor in. Gurman doesn't detail whether Apple Intelligence will arrive on US devices first when it is ready for Vision Pro, but hopefully that won't be the case.

For now, Apple Intelligence will arrive later this year for Mac, iPhone and iPad, and it will require devices to be running Apple’s A17 Pro chipset, or Apple Silicon M series chips.