When Apple unveiled Apple Intelligence at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2024, the company positioned it as the defining feature of a new era — the reason millions of iPhone users would rush to upgrade their devices. Nearly a year later, the data paints a starkly different picture: an overwhelming majority of users appear to have shrugged off Apple’s ambitious artificial intelligence suite, raising urgent questions about the company’s strategic direction and the billions of dollars it has poured into the effort.
A recent poll conducted by TechRadar found that a staggering 96% of respondents said they do not use Apple Intelligence. While the publication acknowledged that such polls carry inherent limitations — the audience skews toward tech enthusiasts who may have higher expectations, and the sample is self-selecting — the sheer magnitude of the rejection is difficult to dismiss. Even accounting for methodological caveats, a number that lopsided suggests Apple has a serious adoption crisis on its hands.
The Promise vs. The Reality of Apple’s AI Push
Apple Intelligence was introduced as a deeply integrated suite of AI-powered tools designed to work across the iPhone, iPad, and Mac ecosystems. Features included writing assistance tools, notification summaries, a revamped Siri with contextual understanding, generative image capabilities like Genmoji and Image Playground, and integration with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Apple CEO Tim Cook and other executives framed the technology as a paradigm shift — one that would make Apple devices indispensable in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence.
The rollout, however, has been anything but smooth. Apple Intelligence launched in stages, with initial features arriving in iOS 18.1 in October 2024, followed by incremental additions in subsequent updates. Some of the most anticipated capabilities — including a truly conversational Siri capable of on-screen awareness and app-level actions — have been delayed repeatedly. As of mid-2025, key elements of the original vision remain undelivered or underwhelming in execution, leaving early adopters feeling shortchanged and the broader user base unmotivated to engage.
Notification Summaries: The Feature That Became a Liability
Perhaps no single feature has done more reputational damage to Apple Intelligence than its notification summaries. Designed to condense lengthy notification threads into brief, digestible blurbs, the tool quickly became a source of embarrassment when it began producing inaccurate and sometimes absurd summaries. News organizations were particularly vocal in their criticism after Apple Intelligence summaries misrepresented headlines and breaking news alerts, effectively putting misinformation on users’ lock screens under the guise of Apple’s trusted brand.
The backlash was swift and public. Major media outlets, including the BBC, flagged instances where AI-generated summaries fabricated details or reversed the meaning of news stories. Apple was forced to issue updates to address the most egregious errors and eventually added disclaimers noting that summaries were AI-generated. But the damage was done. For many users, notification summaries became the face of Apple Intelligence — and it was not a flattering one. According to TechRadar, this feature alone may have soured a significant portion of the user base on the entire Apple Intelligence brand.
Siri’s Long-Promised Transformation Remains Incomplete
The centerpiece of Apple’s AI ambitions was supposed to be a radically upgraded Siri — one capable of understanding context, acting across apps, and serving as a true digital assistant rather than a glorified timer-setter. Apple showed demos at WWDC 2024 of Siri pulling information from emails, messages, and photos to answer complex personal queries. The vision was compelling. The execution has lagged far behind.
As of the latest iOS updates, the deeply contextual, app-aware version of Siri that Apple demonstrated has not fully materialized. Users who upgraded their devices specifically for this functionality have been left waiting. The delay has not only frustrated consumers but has also given competitors — particularly Google with its Gemini AI integration across Android devices and Samsung with its Galaxy AI suite — additional runway to establish their own AI ecosystems. Industry analysts have noted that Apple’s window of opportunity to define the mobile AI experience is narrowing with each passing quarter.
A Hardware Upgrade Cycle That Never Ignited
One of the most consequential business implications of Apple Intelligence’s tepid reception is its failure to drive the blockbuster hardware upgrade cycle that Wall Street had anticipated. Apple made the deliberate decision to restrict Apple Intelligence to iPhone 15 Pro models and newer, effectively creating a hardware gate that the company hoped would compel hundreds of millions of users with older devices to upgrade. The iPhone 16 lineup, launched in September 2024, was marketed heavily around its Apple Intelligence capabilities.
While iPhone 16 sales have been respectable, they have not met the most optimistic analyst projections for a so-called “supercycle.” Multiple Wall Street analysts have revised their estimates downward over the course of the fiscal year, citing softer-than-expected demand in key markets including China, where Apple Intelligence is not even available due to regulatory constraints. If the primary selling point of new hardware is a software feature that 96% of a tech-savvy polling audience says it doesn’t use, the implications for future upgrade cycles are troubling.
The Competitive Pressure Is Mounting
Apple’s struggles with AI adoption are playing out against a backdrop of intensifying competition. Google has embedded its Gemini AI models deeply into the Android experience, from smart replies and call screening to real-time translation and photo editing. Samsung’s Galaxy AI features, powered in part by Google’s technology, have been aggressively marketed and have received generally positive user reception. Meanwhile, startups and established tech players alike are racing to build AI-native experiences that could reshape how consumers interact with their devices.
Microsoft, through its partnership with OpenAI, has transformed its product lineup with Copilot integration across Windows, Office, and Edge. Meta has rolled out AI assistants across its family of apps. Even smaller players are finding niches in the AI ecosystem. Apple, long regarded as the gold standard in user experience, finds itself in the unfamiliar position of playing catch-up — and doing so with a product that its own users appear reluctant to embrace.
What Apple Must Do to Salvage Its AI Narrative
The path forward for Apple is neither simple nor guaranteed. WWDC 2025, expected in June, represents a critical moment for the company to demonstrate meaningful progress on its AI roadmap. Industry observers expect Apple to announce significant Siri improvements, expanded Apple Intelligence capabilities, and potentially new partnerships or on-device model upgrades that could address current shortcomings.
Apple also needs to confront a fundamental messaging problem. The company has historically excelled at launching features that “just work” — intuitive, polished, and immediately useful. Apple Intelligence, by contrast, has felt half-baked to many users, with features that are either unreliable (notification summaries), underwhelming (writing tools that offer generic suggestions), or simply absent (the full Siri overhaul). Restoring user trust will require Apple to deliver not just incremental improvements but genuinely transformative experiences that justify the Apple Intelligence branding.
Tim Cook’s Billion-Dollar Bet Faces Its Moment of Truth
For Tim Cook personally, the stakes could not be higher. Cook has staked significant corporate credibility on Apple Intelligence as the company’s answer to the generative AI revolution. Apple has reportedly invested billions in AI infrastructure, including custom server chips for its Private Cloud Compute architecture and expanded partnerships with OpenAI. If Apple Intelligence fails to gain meaningful traction, it would represent one of the most significant strategic missteps of Cook’s tenure as CEO.
The 96% figure from the TechRadar poll, while imperfect, serves as a blaring alarm. It suggests that Apple has not yet answered the most basic question any technology product must address: Why should I use this? Until Apple can provide a compelling, consistent answer — one backed by features that are reliable, useful, and genuinely superior to the alternatives — Apple Intelligence risks becoming the most expensive feature nobody asked for. The next twelve months will determine whether Apple’s AI vision was simply ahead of its implementation timeline, or whether the company fundamentally misjudged what its users actually want from artificial intelligence.