California tech giant Apple on Monday officially unveiled the iPhone 16, its first smartphone specially designed to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI).

"The next generation of iPhone has been designed for Apple Intelligence from the ground up," said chief executive Tim Cook at the product launch, referring to Apple's own in-house AI platform which was announced earlier this year.

"It marks the beginning of an exciting new era," he said, teasing "breakthrough capabilities" such as the ability for AI to conjure images and other content on command.

According to media reports, Apple Intelligence features are also expected to be rolled out to recent iPhone and iPad models in a software update in October, but with voice assistant Siri initially only available in US English.

Regionalized English is expected to follow in December before a full Siri upgrade with languages including French, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese is rolled out in early 2025.

Apple vs. Huawei

Apple's move into AI is a key pillar of its strategy to compete with Chinese rival Huawei, which made its own new triple-fold MATE XT smartphone available for pre-order hours before Apple's event.

By Monday night, its website showed it had already taken over three million pre-orders for the Z-shaped device, underlining Huawei's ability to navigate US sanctions ahead of its official launch on Tuesday.

"The Chinese market is hungrier for AI features than the US market," commented Ben Bajarin, CEO and principal analyst at the California-based Creative Strategies market research company.

But Beijing is yet to approve Apple Intelligence for release on the Chinese market, nor has Apple announced an AI partner for China.

For Apple, "it will be very difficult to bring [iPhone 16] to China immediately," said Bajarin. "So, they'll be going off the merits of the hardware."

iPhone 16: new features, new Watches, new AirPods

Those hardware features include the new A18 chip, an aluminum back and a new customizable camera button on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, while Apple also unveiled iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max, titanium models with a faster chip, the A18 Pro, and enhanced AI capability.

As part of the launch, Apple also unveiled new Watches and AirPods, emphasizing their use in sporting and health environments.

In addition to improved comfort, fit and acoustics, Apple have also fitted out their new AirPods with a professional hearing-aid feature, which it has submitted for US regulatory review.

Apple targeted by EU regulation and tax authorities

Apple has already said it expects the roll-out of Apple Intelligence in Europe to be delayed due to additional regulatory checks in accordance with the European Union's Digital Services Act.

Also in Europe, the European Court of Justice is expected on Tuesday to rule on a case which could see Apple forced to pay back up to €13 billion ($14.35bn) in tax benefits afforded to it by the Republic of Ireland, where it has its Europe HQ.

mf/wd (Reuters, dpa)