Apple Intelligence has a tier above the full feature set, and Apple names exactly two features in it: Siri voice customization, which adjusts pitch, speed, tone and accent, and an improved on-device Dictation model. Six iPhones qualify.
Apple calls the requirement an advanced on-device model, and it publishes the device list in footnotes on its Apple Intelligence page and on the iOS 27 page rather than in any headline. The list is worth reading closely, because it does not follow price, screen size or how recently a device went on sale.
Key facts
| Item | What Apple publishes |
|---|---|
| Features in the top tier | Siri voice customization and improved on-device Dictation |
| iPhones that qualify | iPhone 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max, iPhone Duo, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max, iPhone Air |
| iPad floor | M4 or later with 12GB or more unified memory |
| Mac floor | M3 or later with 12GB or more unified memory |
| Vision floor | Apple Vision Pro with M5 |
| Tier below it | Full Apple Intelligence: iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16 and later |
| Tier below that | iOS 27 with no Apple Intelligence: iPhone 11 and later, iPhone SE second generation and later |
The two features Apple puts in the top tier
Voice customization lets you change how Siri sounds, with pitch, speed, tone and accent all adjustable. Apple lists it alongside the rest of the Siri AI feature set but attaches the narrower device requirement only to this part.
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The second is Dictation. Apple’s line is that a powerful new on-device model allows Dictation to understand you even better, and that model is the reason for the restriction. Neither feature is a headline act at the September 9 event, and neither appeared on stage with a tier label attached.
Every device Apple lists for them
| Platform | Devices Apple names | Extra condition |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone | iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, iPhone Duo, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPhone Air | None published |
| iPad | M4 or later | 12GB or more unified memory |
| Mac | M3 or later | 12GB or more unified memory |
| Apple Vision Pro | M5 | None published |
The six iPhones are the A20 Pro models, which are the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and iPhone Duo, plus the three A19 Pro models. Apple does not describe the list that way, it simply names the phones, but that is what the list amounts to.
The iPhones that run Apple Intelligence but miss this tier
Apple’s Apple Intelligence device list names 15 iPhones. Nine of them run the full feature set and do not reach the top tier: iPhone 17, iPhone 17e, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16, iPhone 16e, iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro.
Two of those are worth pausing on. iPhone 17 and iPhone 17e are current models sold alongside the top-tier iPhone Air, and they are out. iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are Pro phones with the full Apple Intelligence feature set, and they are out too. If you own a 16 Pro, the practical effect is that everything on the Apple Intelligence page applies to you except a Siri voice slider and one Dictation model, which is a narrow gap for a tier boundary.
Why the floor is different on every platform
Apple sets the iPad floor at M4 and the Mac floor one generation lower at M3, and attaches a 12GB unified memory condition to both. It publishes no memory figure for any iPhone, on this page or anywhere else, so the iPhone requirement is expressed purely as a list of model names.
That is the cleanest way to read the whole tier. On iPad, Mac and Vision Pro, Apple tells you the rule. On iPhone, it tells you the answer and keeps the rule to itself, which is also how the A20 Pro specifications are published: cores and comparisons, never memory.
What Apple has not said
Apple has not said why a Mac two chip generations old qualifies while two current iPhones do not, has not published an iPhone memory figure to explain it, and has not said whether more features will join this tier later. It has not said whether the tier will ever open up to the iPhone 16 generation, and it has given no name to the tier beyond the phrase advanced on-device model.
All of it becomes testable on Monday, September 14, when iOS 27 ships as a free update. The Siri voice settings and the Dictation model are the two places to look on the day.