iPhone 18 Pro Max goes on sale this week. Meanwhile, owners of new Apple flagship stores in Russia will face a record number of line restrictions. The fact is that at least 18 features and services will be completely unavailable and will only work after changing the region and switching to the English interface language. Many of these involve Apple Intelligence’s proprietary artificial intelligence capabilities.
Image source: Apple
One of the main features of iPhone 18 Pro Max is a new generation of features based on artificial intelligence Apple Intelligence. To a greater extent, they should become an argument in consumers’ minds for purchasing a flagship. However, a large portion of the new AI capabilities remain inaccessible to Russians.
First of all, it should be noted that the Russian language is not supported. This means that the new version of the Siri virtual assistant is able to remember personal context, consider the content of apps, and perform various actions within the system, but it cannot understand Russian commands. Additionally, there is no official ChatGPT integration via Siri and writing tools (designed for working with text).
The lack of Russian language support will also affect other features that Apple will show off during the new smartphone showcase. Therefore, the Genmoji tool (which allows you to generate your own emojis), the Image Playground image generator, the Visual Intelligence camera object recognition tool, advanced photo search, and the Cleanup feature (which allows you to remove unnecessary objects from photos) will remain unavailable.
These limitations also affect internal translations. Apple has positioned the instant translation system as one of the key features of iOS 27, but support for Russian has not yet been implemented, at least at this stage. Therefore, users will not be able to use it to translate online messages, phone conversations, and audio via AirPods, which are available in English and other supported languages.
Restrictions apply to other features as well. Since Apple previously stopped supporting Russian payment methods, users are still unable to purchase in the App Store in the usual way. You also won’t be able to use your bank card and mobile provider account to pay for in-app purchases or subscriptions to Music, iCloud+, One, TV+, Arcade and Fitness+. This also applies to the company’s other paid services, including purchases from the iTunes Store, Apple Podcasts subscriptions and ringtone purchases.
In addition, Apple smartphones still do not support Russia’s 5G network, which was launched in several cities in the country earlier this month. According to the Ministry of Digital Development, about 10 million people are currently connected to 5G networks, and this number will continue to grow by the end of this year. Previous reports said the department was in talks with Apple about launching 5G support in Russia, but did not specify when such an opportunity would arise.
Experts say Russians’ interest in Apple technology remains, but their willingness to pay more for new iPhone models is gradually declining. Apple’s withdrawal from the Russian market effectively eliminates the possibility of a quick restoration of some functionality. “She’s not interacting with officials, so we can’t expect restrictions to be lifted anytime soon. Demand for iPhones is declining, and the presence or absence of 5G has little impact on smartphone choice these days.”“, said Eldar Murtazin, analyst at Mobile Research Group.
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