Apple revealed Friday that it will not introduce in the European Union the artificial intelligence features for iPhone, Mac and iPad it recently announced. The company blamed the EU’s Digital Markets Act for the decision.
Several other new features of the upcoming macOS Sequoia, iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 will also not debut in the EU.
Impact of EU’s Digital Markets Act on Apple Intelligence AI features
WWDC24 in early June gave the world its first official look at the Mac-maker’s AI efforts, which all come under the heading of Apple Intelligence. Safari, Mail and other apps will be able to summarize large amounts of text, there’ll be new AI-powered writing tools in several apps, users will be able to create their own emoji and images, and much more.
The features are scheduled to come to iPhone, Mac and iPad later this year. But, as we learned Friday, not to Europe.
“Due to the regulatory uncertainties brought about by the Digital Markets Act, we do not believe that we will be able to roll out three of these features — iPhone Mirroring, SharePlay Screen Sharing enhancements, and Apple Intelligence — to our EU users this year,” Apple told Financial Times.
And the company told Bloomberg, “We are concerned that the interoperability requirements of the DMA could force us to compromise the integrity of our products in ways that risk user privacy and data security.”
The non-AI features also not coming to the EU allow users to easily and wirelessly mirror their iPhone’s display on their Mac, and enable one iPad to take remote control over a friend or family member’s iPad during a FaceTime call.
Apple vs. EU’s Digital Markets Act
Last year, the European Union passed the Digital Markets Act with the stated goal of opening up Big Tech to more competition. So far, the legislation has required significant changes to iPhone, including allowing users to directly install third-party software without going through the App Store.
While Apple hasn’t directly defied the DMA, there are accusations it is dragging its feet on implementing some of the rules. For example, the EU Commission is conducting an investigation into whether Apple is following the DMA requirement that it allow third-party software developers to “steer” consumers to offers outside the App Store, free of charge.
Not launching Apple Intelligence in Europe will be seen as an attempt to punish the EU for passing the DMA, whether this is Apple’s actual intention or not. As Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman asked on X, “Is Apple (partially) doing this to get consumers in the EU to push back against the regulators?”
