It needs to do so to ensure new devices all support Apple Intelligence, including new features not yet announced. (Apple Intelligence currently requires an A17 Pro chip inside an iPhone to run, or M-series processors inside Macs.)
Apple knows that the future of Apple Intelligence, as with any other product, relies on it delivering great customer experiences. That means it doesn’t want people using its service to have experiences hampered by older devices. The company has previously clarified that the computational power required to run Apple Intelligence on device requires the best-available chip.
Diverting company resources
The company also seems to understand what’s at stake. It already seems to be cancelling some of its R&D projects, (including Apple Car) and scaling back on Apple TV shows to divert dollars into AI research. That represents the importance the company, once thought to lag the industry, now places on the sector and likely echoes the scale at which it is pivoting to build support for AI inside all its products, hardware, software and operating systems.