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- Eighteen of them already: top features of the iPhone 18 Pro Max unavailable in Russia
Eighteen of them already: top features of the iPhone 18 Pro Max unavailable in Russia
On September 18, the iPhone 18 Pro Max will go on official sale in more than 65 countries. On the same day, the first shipments of smartphones will begin to be received by Russian customers who have pre-ordered from domestic retailers. However, with the new flagship, users will face a record number of restrictions for the line: at least 18 functions and services will be completely unavailable or will only work after changing the region and switching to English interface language. Most of them are related to Apple Intelligence, an artificial intelligence system that the company has made the main feature of the new generation of iPhones. "Izvestia" was one of the first to test the new product and was convinced of these limitations on their own experience.
What services don't work in the iPhone 18 Pro Max
The main feature of the iPhone 18 Pro Max is not so much the A20 Pro processor or improved cameras, but rather the new generation of Apple Intelligence. Artificial intelligence was supposed to be one of the main arguments in favor of updating the device. However, for Russian users, a significant part of these features remains unavailable.
The most noticeable limitation is the lack of support for the Russian language. Because of this, the owners of the new gadget will not be able to use the updated version of Siri with a personal context, which can take into account the contents of applications and perform complex actions inside the system. The official ChatGPT integration via Siri and the built—in Writing Tools, which are tools for rewriting, shortening, and changing text style directly in applications, are also unavailable.
Language barriers affect other functions that were demonstrated at the presentation. In particular, Genmoji is not available for creating your own emojis, the Image Playground image generator, the Visual Intelligence system for recognizing objects using a camera, advanced photo search, and the Clean Up function, which automatically removes unnecessary objects from images.
Another group of restrictions is related to translation. Despite the fact that the corporation positions Live Translation as one of the key features of iOS 27, Russian is not yet among the supported languages. Therefore, owners of the 18 Pro Max will not be able to use instant translation of messages, phone conversations and audio via AirPods in the form in which these functions are available for English and other supported languages.
The limitations are not limited to artificial intelligence alone. After the termination of support for Russian payment methods, users still cannot make purchases in the App Store, pay for in-app purchases, or subscribe to Music, iCloud+, One, TV+, Arcade, and Fitness+ using bank cards and mobile carrier accounts. The problems also affect other paid services of the company, including purchases in the iTunes Store, subscriptions to Apple Podcasts and purchase of ringtones.
One of the important unavailable functions remains support for 5G technology — this generation of networks officially launched in our country on September 11 in 15 million cities. According to the Ministry of Digital Economy, almost 10 million people have access to high-speed mobile Internet. Owners of "apple" smartphones cannot connect to these networks yet. At the same time, according to the head of the department Maksut Shadaev, negotiations are currently underway with a company from Cupertino on the possibility of activating this function. "Izvestia" sent a request to the ministry.
Is it worth buying the 18 Pro Max
Interest in Apple technology in Russia remains, but the willingness to overpay for new iPhone models is gradually decreasing, experts interviewed by "Izvestia" believe. The company's withdrawal from our market effectively eliminates the possibility of operational restoration of some functions, said Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst at Mobile Research Group.
— She does not interact with officials, so there is no reason to expect the restrictions to be lifted soon. Demand for the iPhone is declining, and the presence or absence of 5G today has virtually no effect on the choice of smartphone,— said Eldar Murtazin.
According to him, the share of "apple" smartphones in the domestic market is 4% and continues to decline in annual terms.
Users still choose Apple devices primarily because of the ecosystem, but the rationality of buying new models is decreasing, says Mikhail Shurygin, chairman of the ROCIT commission on cloud technologies, hosting and information security.
"A person pays the full cost of a flagship device, but they don't get the full range of services," he said.
According to him, this is not about a collapse of interest in the brand, but about a gradual decrease in willingness to overpay for inferior experience.
— While Apple has not officially returned to the Russian market, there is no reason to expect an improvement in the situation. It is no longer so important to the user whether the restrictions are related to the decisions of the company itself, sanctions or regulatory features. He buys an expensive smartphone and has to figure out which region to specify, which language to enable, and which service is still working," Mikhail Shurygin added.
The popularity of the American company's gadgets is likely to continue due to the user's habit of using the interface and branded applications. At the same time, there are more and more competitive alternatives on the market," Ilya Gogua, a blogger and expert on new media and the information environment, explained to "Izvestia".
— Apple's technology will remain in demand in any case, as it is chosen for its user-friendliness and familiar ecosystem. However, modern Android smartphones, including HarmonyOS devices, often offer higher technical specifications, and some solutions turn out to be more secure in terms of data transfer," the blogger said.
According to him, professional users will always find analogues of specialized software or workarounds for paying for services, and for ordinary people there are alternative app stores and other subscription options. But as the iPhone becomes more and more a device focused on cloud services and artificial intelligence, the gap in usage scenarios between Russia and countries with official support will become more noticeable, Ilya Gogua concluded.
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