Remember this: Apple's photography claims may come back to haunt them

Apple recently made a statement about photography that, while I happen to agree with it and commend it, I think the company is going to regret making very soon – possibly by the time the iPhone 17 rolls around. The crux of the statement is this: Apple doesn’t believe in the kind of generative AI seen in photos taken by phones like the Google Pixel 9 and Samsung Galaxy S24. Which is why the iPhone 16 is free from fake group shots and other such embellishments. At least, it is for now. And this is the part where I believe Apple is going to be forced to eat its words.

Before we analyze those words, though, we need to talk about something Google said – because that’s what prompted Apple’s response. Last month, a member of the Pixel team explained how mobile phones should capture memories rather than photographs. “I see the memories people can’t capture because of technical limitations,” Isaac Reynolds, group product manager for Pixel Camera, told Wired. “It’s about what you’re remembering… What some of these [generative AI] edits do is help you create the moment that is the way you remember it, that’s authentic to your memory and to the greater context, but maybe isn’t authentic to a particular millisecond.”

It’s this notion – that generative AI is the future of photography, at least as far as smartphones go – that led Apple to utter the words we will no doubt be quoting in a year’s time.

“Here’s our view of what a photograph is. The way we like to think of it is that it’s a personal celebration of something that really, actually happened,” responded Apple’s Jon McCormack, VP of camera software engineering, when asked about Google’s position by The Verge. “Whether that’s a simple thing like a fancy cup of coffee that’s got some cool design on it, all the way through to my kid’s first steps, or my parents’ last breath, it’s something that really happened. It’s something that is a marker in my life, and it’s something that deserves to be celebrated.”

“And that is why when we think about evolving in the camera, we also rooted it very heavily in tradition. Photography is not a new thing. It’s been around for 198 years. People seem to like it. There’s a lot to learn from that. There’s a lot to rely on from that.”

While it brought to mind Morpheus questioning the nature of reality in The Matrix, it felt like a very rehearsed statement. Somebody who recites photography’s existence at 198 years, and who goes on to cite Roger Fenton’s calotypes from the Crimean War in 1854, has parroted those numbers often enough to summon them from the top of their head.

As it happens, I agree with McCormack. I’ve never liked Samsung phones because of the heavy filtering and sweetening of the camera app, and I will never buy a Galaxy or a Pixel because of all the new generative AI features. However, the reason I think his statement is so practiced is because he’s had to answer the same question so often. Because the fact is, Apple simply can’t do generative AI. At least, not yet. But it will.

The iPhone 16’s launch wasn’t a disaster, but it was certainly a mess. I’ll quote The Verge again, because Nilay Patel makes the point so eloquently: “The iPhone 16 Pro is one of the most unfinished products Apple has ever shipped. Almost all of its highlight features will arrive in future software updates that will stretch well into next year before they’re here. That’s big stuff, like the new Apple Intelligence AI features the company says will start slowly arriving in October, and little stuff, like the complete functionality of the new Camera Control button on the side.”

Apple spectacularly failed to have its AI tools ready in time for the launch. Heck, it didn’t even have the Camera Control button properly ready. And those would have been the headline features of the 16. Instead, though, Apple had to shift its PR position and double down on no-frills photography. The iPhone takes “real” photographs of things that “really happened” – but only because its own AI wasn’t ready in time.

For Pete’s sake, in the same interview that he’s talking all this ‘really real’ stuff, McCormick alludes to the Clean Up feature (think Google’s Magic Eraser) that’s coming as part of the AI tools in Apple Intelligence. So Apple is already contradicting its own messaging. And that’s before we get all the slick videos and wow-worthy demonstrations of AI decluttering, AI improvements and AI embellishments that will no doubt feature in the press conference during the iPhone 17 launch, when the company has finally finished developing all these features.

So, make a note in your diary. Ask Siri to set you a reminder. However you do it, remember that Apple declared this to be its stance on photography. Because I firmly believe that these words will come back to haunt it.