Apple Intelligence is taking up too much disk space

Apple Intelligence promised to make life easier, but so far it only creates problems. The feature, launched in September 2024, increased its storage requirements from 4 GB to 7 GB in four months. Users are wondering if the memory and battery costs are justified given the poor performance of Apple Intelligence in its current form.

Image source: macrumors.com

According to Gizmodo, problems began with the release of iOS 18.2 and macOS Sequoia 15.2. And while new versions of the operating systems have expanded the functionality of Apple Intelligence, adding generative AI capabilities such as Image Playground (creating images at the user’s request) and Genmoji for creating custom emoji, this has led to a significant increase in the amount of data required to operate the system.

One reason for the increased memory requirements is the use of local processing. That is, the data is processed directly on the device to ensure greater privacy, but this requires storing AI models on the gadget itself. By the way, this is why only devices with powerful M1, A17 or newer chips have access to Apple Intelligence.

As Apple plans to further develop its AI capabilities, including updating its Siri voice assistant, this means that space requirements will only increase. “Expect this feature to continue to fill up your available storage for the foreseeable future,” notes Gizmodo, with some bitterness.

Meanwhile, according to SellCell research, most users are not enthusiastic about Apple Intelligence. 73% of iPhone owners who have tried the feature believe it has “no particular value” to their user experience. In addition, there are complaints about increased battery consumption associated with the operation of artificial intelligence. As a result, at the moment, Apple Intelligence, in the opinion of many, does not justify the expenditure of resources, offering in return only inaccurate retellings of news and the need to charge the device more often.

It is unclear whether users’ attitudes towards Apple Intelligence will change with the advent of new, more popular functions, however, despite the dissatisfaction of some users and the increase in storage requirements, Apple is not going to deviate from its intended course, making a serious bet on the implementation of AI in its devices.