New Siri AI Coming to iPhones This Fall; See If Your Model Qualifies

Apple's virtual assistant, Siri, is finally receiving a major overhaul with the introduction of Siri AI, powered by the company's new Apple Intelligence initiative. This enhanced Siri promises to be more capable of understanding complex queries and executing chained commands, a significant leap from its previous iterations. The upgrade is slated to roll out this fall with the stable release of iOS 17.Compatibility for Siri AI will be restricted to specific iPhone, iPad, and Mac models equipped with Apple silicon. For iPhones, this includes models released from the iPhone 15 Pro onwards. The 2024 iPad mini also gains support due to its shared processing unit with the iPhone 15 Pro. Users can verify their device's eligibility by checking for an "Apple Intelligence & Siri" section within their iPhone's Settings app. Interestingly, Apple plans to launch Siri AI initially as a beta, requiring users to opt-in manually, similar to the waitlist process for the iOS 17 developer beta.

Siri's Evolving Capabilities and Future Potential

The new Siri is designed to handle personal requests with a deeper understanding of context, drawing information from a user's notes, messages, emails, and photos. This enhanced functionality is driven by Apple's new Foundation Models, which operate both on-device for improved response times and privacy, and via the cloud through a secure system called Private Cloud Compute for more complex tasks. Apple asserts that Private Cloud Compute ensures user data remains inaccessible to any third party. Specifically, the iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and the upcoming iPhone Air will benefit from even more potent on-device models. These advanced models are expected to unlock more expressive Siri voices, superior speech recognition, and enhanced dictation accuracy. Future devices like the anticipated iPhone 18 Pro and the rumored iPhone Fold are also expected to leverage these powerful on-device AI capabilities. However, the base model iPhone 18's AI model performance remains uncertain, especially as rumors suggest non-Pro iPhones might see a RAM increase to 9GB, while Apple's most advanced on-device AI models require at least 12GB of RAM. While much of the Apple Intelligence suite has faced criticism for incremental improvements, the new Siri AI demonstrates genuine utility. Early hands-on experiences with beta versions indicate a fast and accurate virtual assistant, potentially marking a significant advancement for Apple's ecosystem.