India, Sept. 11 -- Apple's September keynote this year looked noticeably different. The company unveiled the iPhone 17 series alongside updates to AirPods and the Apple Watch, but the buzzword that dominated last year's announcements, AI, hardly made an appearance.

The 75-minute presentation leaned heavily on hardware gains rather than flashy demonstrations of "Apple Intelligence." CEO Tim Cook called it the "biggest leap ever for iPhone," but when it came to artificial intelligence, the company was measured, almost cautious.

Instead of showcasing new consumer-facing tools, Apple spoke about how AI quietly powers its devices in the background. Executives highlighted the neural engine inside the iPhone's chip, designed to handle heavy AI...