The MacRumors Show: Apple Intelligence Comes Under Fire

On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk about Apple's recent announcement that several of its most highly anticipated Apple Intelligence features are to be delayed.


Last week, Apple quietly announced that it is further delaying some of Siri's ‌Apple Intelligence‌ features that it expected to release in iOS 18. The functionality includes wide-reaching enhancements to ‌Siri‌ that leverage personal context and onscreen awareness to take complex actions in apps. It was unveiled as a key part of ‌Apple Intelligence‌ at WWDC in June last year, but has yet to be seen outside of Apple's pre-recorded demo videos and a series of now-pulled TV ads.

This week, Daring Fireball's John Gruber penned a blistering attack on the missing features and Apple's management decisions, triggering a wave of subsequent criticisms and calls for Apple CEO Tim Cook to directly acknowledge the situation. We reflect on the delay and the unusual circumstances surrounding the features, pondering how this happened and what it means for Apple going forward. The MacRumors Show also has its own YouTube channel, so make sure you're subscribed to keep up with new episodes and clips.

You can also listen to ‌The MacRumors Show‌ on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your preferred podcasts app. You can also copy our RSS feed directly into your podcast player.


If you haven't already listened to the previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up to hear our discussion about all of Apple's latest announcements for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac lineups.

Subscribe to ‌The MacRumors Show‌ for new episodes every week, where we discuss some of the topical news breaking here on MacRumors, often joined by interesting guests such as Kevin Nether, Jon Prosser, Luke Miani, Matthew Cassinelli, Brian Tong, Quinn Nelson, Jared Nelson, Eli Hodapp, Mike Bell, Sara Dietschy, iJustine, Jon Rettinger, Andru Edwards, Arnold Kim, Ben Sullins, Marcus Kane, Christopher Lawley, Frank McShan, David Lewis, Tyler Stalman, Sam Kohl, John Gruber, Federico Viticci, Thomas Frank, Jonathan Morrison, Ross Young, Ian Zelbo, and Rene Ritchie.

‌The MacRumors Show‌ is on X @MacRumorsShow, so be sure to give us a follow to keep up with the podcast. You can also head over to The MacRumors Show forum thread to engage with us directly. Remember to rate and review the podcast, and let us know what subjects and guests you would like to see in the future.

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Top Rated Comments

Expos of 1969 Avatar
3 hours ago at 09:33 am
Hartley is bang on. At the 20 minute mark he states what many people who are not Apple blind defenders have known for some time. The walled garden is full of decay, dead roots and it is time to prune right from the top.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
klasma Avatar
3 hours ago at 10:07 am
Thanks @Hartley for remaining candid with the very valid observations.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Living the Dream Avatar
3 hours ago at 09:17 am
The amount of defense and deflection that the left man on thumbnail is doing is gross and any amount of journalistic integrity this guy has should be unequivocally revoked. I can’t believe what I just listened to in his complete arrogant defense of apple AI.

It’s even more hilarious when he is asked questions and you can listen to the volume of his voice that he knows he can’t answer the question truthfully. His voice always goes quite quiet.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DanteHicks79 Avatar
2 hours ago at 10:41 am
Gruber was spot on in his analysis. It bugged me to no end that the i16 ads were hyping features that weren't even released in beta at the time. It felt like smoke and mirrors, except they were showing the smoke and mirrors, and not even trying to disguise them.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
switz Avatar
3 hours ago at 10:03 am
Prune is not the appropriate word. The word should be bush hog the whole place down to 6" stubble and start over.

We really need some fresh ideas in the entire product line and the software is so bloated on all platforms that even the latest processors with the most power have to overcome the sloppy code.

Seven gigabytes bytes and more for recent MacOS.

Having been in software development back in the days of tight machine code as memory was very expensive, I feel sure Apple spends as much time trying to add a feature as they do trouble shooting the rippling waves of damage from their last great idea that was half baked. The patches and patches to the patches just add bloat and use up processor cycles like crazy.

If one initializes a drive and just installs a minimum operating system and runs a few time tests on what they do with a bare machine with the one program vs their main machine with hundreds of gigabytes bytes of code, they might be surprised by the speed up and lower processor loads.

Consider an Etch-A-Sketch moment and lift the screen to clear the slate below of extraneous garbage. Much easier to see the task then.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kylo83 Avatar
3 hours ago at 10:08 am
Hartley was 100% correct. As an Apple fan I’m sick of all of this.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)