On September 12, CNMO learned from foreign media that Apple has launched the third beta version of iOS 18.1 specifically for the upcoming iPhone 16 series. It is worth noting that although iOS 18.1 beta 3 was released for the iPhone 15 Pro series as early as the end of August, this update is specially optimized for the iPhone 16 series, and its build number is updated to 22B5034o, which is an improvement over the previous version 2B5034e.
iOS 18.1 introduces the first batch of Apple Intelligence features, including writing tools, a focus mode that reduces distractions, notification summaries, etc. It is expected to be officially released to the public in October (only in the US market). The initial release version of iOS 18 will not include any Apple Intelligence features.
The iOS 18.1 beta provided for the iPhone 16 series is good news for users who are already running iOS 18.1 on the iPhone 15 Pro. This means that when the iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max are officially released, they can seamlessly migrate their iCloud backups to the new devices. At the same time, since data migration requires both devices to run the same version of iOS, the early release of the beta is undoubtedly a convenient solution for users who are about to upgrade to the new iPhone 16 series.
In addition, Apple has likely provided iPhone 16 review models to media websites, and the early release of iOS 18.1 beta 3 will also enable reviewers running iOS 18.1 to smoothly set up their iPhone 16 test devices.
It is worth noting that iOS 18 is expected to be officially released on Tuesday, but the beta testing phase of iOS 18.1 will still last for several weeks to further collect feedback and optimize the user experience.
