Apple Intelligence, iPhone Mirroring, and enhancements to Apple’s SharePlay are not going to be launched in the EU come Apple’s iPhone launch in September.
Apple says that the Digital Markets Act, which was introduced last year, will force it to compromise the integrity of its products and put a dent on user security.
However, Apple has promised that it’ll cooperate with the EU and find a way to make these features available to its European customers at the earliest.
Apple is also facing trouble launching Apple Intelligence in China owing to strict regulations, including ChatGPT being banned in the country.
Apple recently announced a bunch of interesting AI-powered features at the Worldwide Developers Conference June 2024 that were set to be the company’s answer to its rivals. As unfortunate as it is, however, the very heart of these features, the much-coveted Apple Intelligence (AI), won’t be launching in the EU anytime soon.
The other two features that have been subjected to this delay are iPhone Mirroring on Mac and enhancements to Apple’s screen-sharing product, SharePlay.
Given how strict EU rules are, launching a new product in the bloc has always been a challenge. However, this time, it’s not the bloc that has banned these features but Apple itself—the Big Tech company has decided to hold off on launching the above-mentioned features.
Apple feels that the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which is an antitrust regulation introduced last year, might force the company to make certain changes to its products that will risk user privacy and data security.
The Digital Markets Act (DMA)
It’s well worth noting that the DMA was introduced last year because the EU believed that certain top players in the industry, such as Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, and Meta, were intentionally making it difficult for smaller companies to enter the market.
One of the basic requirements of the DMA is that these companies ensure that the basic functions of their products work across competing devices and ecosystems.
Outside of Europe, all of the Apple features are expected to launch as part of the upcoming operating system updates, including iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15. As it stands now, this is going to be a loss for Apple’s European customers only.
However, there’s hope that these features will soon be available for EU users because Apple has promised to work with the Commission and find a way to offer its services without compromising the products’ integrity or violating the DMA.
Not the First Time for Apple
This isn’t the first time Apple has been involved in something like this. Just in January of this year, when Apple was explaining how it plans to comply with the DMA, it said that the changes it will need to bring in order to comply with the law will open up Apple devices to malware, scams, and other threats.
Apple also said that it’ll make it difficult for the company to detect and prevent such threats. However, Apple’s resistance did nothing to change the EU’s mind.
In fact, in response to this, the European Commission said: “Gatekeepers are welcome to offer their services in Europe, provided that they comply with our rules aimed at ensuring fair competition.”
Apple Intelligence Will Also Not Launch in China
In addition to the EU, Apple has also slammed on the brakes on launching Apple Intelligence “AI” in China. The first challenge is that China is just as strict as the EU when it comes to technology. So, Apple will have to get its AI model approved by the Chinese authorities.
The bigger problem is that Apple’s Siri will now be integrating with ChatGPT for certain queries to give the user more accurate responses. However, ChatGPT is banned in China, which doesn’t look like changing, so Apple will either have to eliminate this feature or find a domestic AI partner in China.
Another question is whether Apple will be able to use its own servers. Since China is very particular about how the data of its citizens are handled, it requires all data to be stored in servers located within the Chinese borders. These servers are run by third parties.
So, Apple will have to partner with one of these AI computing server companies. However, what about data privacy then? Apple won’t be able to give the same rock-solid guarantee regarding data privacy if a third party is involved.
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