Apple has reportedly acquired Canadian artificial intelligence startup DarwinAI, which specializes in image processing technologies to improve manufacturing efficiency.
The company’s LinkedIn accounts show that while Apple and DarwinAI have not yet announced their partnership, several members of the startup team joined Apple’s machine learning teams in January.
Apple Buys DarwinAI
DarwinAI has secured more than $15 million in funding across multiple funding rounds from investors, including Inovia Capital, Honeywell Ventures, Obvious Ventures and BDC Capital’s Deep Tech Venture Fund. On its website, BDC Capital confirms that it has secured its exit from DarwinAI, while Obvious Venture has updated its portfolio to reflect the startup’s acquisition.
As of this writing, BDC Capital and Obvious Ventures did not respond to questions about the report, and Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Bloomberg mentioned in its report that DarwinAI not only improves production efficiency but also uses methods to create smaller and faster AI models. This could be useful for the generative AI features that Apple plans to integrate into iOS 18 later this year. Compared to competitors like OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, Apple has been slower in introducing AI-powered features. Tim Cook said in February that such features would be available “later this year.”
“We continue to invest significant time and effort and look forward to sharing details of our ongoing work in this area later this year,” Cook said during a quarterly conference call with analysts.
Last year, Apple’s CEO approved funding for AI generation initiatives. Apple has noted in its job postings that it is exploring integrating artificial intelligence into several internal and external areas, including customer service, developer tools and Siri.
Apple will launch the iPhone 16 in a few months.
Apple just released the iPhone 15, but rumours about the iPhone 16 are already circulating. The series is expected far to surpass its predecessors in terms of improvements and expansions.
The device is rumoured to have a completely new design, a more powerful processor, camera features and improved displays.
The design of the iPhone 16 is expected to change significantly as leaked concept models suggest a change from previous versions.
Apple is reportedly planning to move from a triangular layout to a dual-camera vertical layout, perhaps with an emphasis on spatial video recording for the Apple Vision Pro headphones. Additionally, the iPhone X’s vertical camera island may have inspired the design.
Renders of the
Also, improved camera features were achieved through changed design elements, such as the volume buttons and the addition of a new record button. It is assumed that the base colour of the iPhone 16 will be light yellow, pink and black, although other colour options may also appear.