Apple Will Finally Bring A Big IPhone 16 Exclusive Feature To An Older IPhone

Apple Visual Intelligence vs Google Lens menu readout

Ryan Haines / Android Authority

TL;DR

Visual Intelligence is a significant highlight feature of Apple Intelligence, but it can only be launched with the new Camera Control button on the iPhone 16 series.
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max supported Apple Intelligence but not Visual Intelligence, as there was no way to launch it.
In a future software update, the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max will be able to launch Visual Intelligence through the Control Center and even assign it to the Action Button.

Despite being a year old, the iPhone 15 series is still a very capable smartphone lineup, and the 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max are even more so. The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max remain the only older iPhones to get the Apple Intelligence feature, but they still missed out on the Google Lens-like Visual Intelligence feature. With the launch of the iPhone 16e, the tide seems to be turning in favor of the 15 Pro and Pro Max, too, as users will soon be able to enjoy Visual Intelligence on them.

One of Apple Intelligence’s highlight features is Visual Intelligence, which lets users point their iPhone camera at objects around them to identify them in real time. The catch with the feature is that there was only one way to launch it: by long-pressing on the new Camera Control button, which is exclusive to the iPhone 16 series. So even though the iPhone 15 Pro supported Apple Intelligence, it missed out on Visual Intelligence since there was no way to launch it.

With the launch of the iPhone 16e, Apple has added Visual Intelligence to the Control Center (aka iOS’ Quick Settings-like tiles). Apple is going one step further and letting users also assign Visual Intelligence to the Action Button.

Apple representatives have mentioned to Daring Fireball that iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max owners will also be able to bind their Action Button to Visual Intelligence but in a “future software update.” Even the Control Center option will roll out to all Apple Intelligence iPhones.

Apple didn’t comment on the specifics of this software update, but the report speculates that it is likely the iOS 18.4 update. iOS 18.4 is expected to launch in beta anytime now, so the feature is right around the corner for iPhone 15 Pro users. Until then, dare I say, you can use Google Lens instead, which has also recently been updated to support Circle to Search.

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