Why Apple’s Future Could Depend on Siri

We all know Siri like a voice-activated virtual assistant that lives in your iPhone. But in the future, Siri could be much more than just a hands-free way to control Apple devices. It could become the connective tissue between future Apple products, from smart glasses to home displayspotentially determining whether Apple can make another hit as significant as the iPhone.

Voice-controlled gadgets are nothing new; Siri has been available on the iPhone for 13 years, and both Amazon and Google have managed to turn barking commands into home devices into a practical shortcut rather than a futuristic (and maybe a little silly) concept.

But if anything has become apparent over the past two years, it’s that generative AI — or AI that can create content and provide conversational responses based on training data — is pushing virtual assistants into their next era. Now that voice assistants are getting better at reasoning over voice, images, and text, they may become conversational interfaces rather than just question-and-answer bots.

So what does this mean for Siri? There is a belief that as generative AI advances, the interfaces on the phones, laptops and tablets we use every day will become more voice-based and less touch-centric, potentially leading to new types of devices altogether. That means Siri could end up being the key touchpoint in Apple products moving forward, making Siri’s growth even more crucial. It’s not just about keeping pace OpenAI and Google; Siri’s future growth could have a bigger impact than ever on the adoption of future Apple products.

Read more: After using Apple Intelligence for weeks, this feature stands out

Siri could be at the center of Apple’s upcoming devices

Siri is a big part of Apple Intelligence, Apple’s push to equip its iPhones, iPads and Macs with more AI features. For example, Siri will get better at using the personal context stored on your phone to answer questions that are highly individualized, such as being able to take actions based on the content of your phone’s screen (like Google’s Gemini Assistant can now be done on Android). Siri also has new knowledge about Apple products, which means you can ask her for technical support.

But new AI features for phonesincluding Apple Intelligence and other similar Android-based services still don’t feel monumentally different or meaningful. For the iPhone, I think Siri could be the key to changing that. The biggest promise for AI on our phones, in my opinion, is having an assistant that can make better sense of all the data, photos, videos, apps and notifications stored on our devices to present us with relevant information when we need it. her. While only Apple knows what the future holds for Apple Intelligence, the company’s current approach indicates that Siri may be moving in that direction.

But Apple Intelligence is just the beginning. Apple is reportedly working on a class of new devices that will likely rely more on voice input, such as smart glasses and a wall-mounted smart home display, according to Bloomberg. Apple is reportedly evaluating the smart glasses category in an effort to potentially compete with Ray-Ban’s Meta glasses, which can answer questions based on what the wearer is looking at.

If Apple were to release such an alternative, it’s hard to imagine Siri not playing a huge role in the device’s functionality. The quality of Siri’s responses would undoubtedly have a big impact on how useful a pair of Apple’s smart glasses would be.

Then there’s the other area Apple is said to be exploring: smart home devices. The company is said to be developing a wall-mounted display powered by Siri and Apple Intelligence that will be used to control home devices, control apps and make FaceTime calls, according to Bloomberg. While the device may run software that resembles a combination of the iPhone’s StandBy mode and the Apple Watch’s WatchOS interface, it will be designed primarily for voice interactions, the report said. This alone suggests that Siri will have a major role in the device.

Read more: Why Google’s new Android VP says ‘people don’t want to hear about AI’

Why would these new products be so important?

The success of these new products is critical for several reasons. First, all eyes are on Apple’s AI ambitions as OpenAI and Google grab the spotlight in the AI ​​race. And second, Apple’s wearables and digital services divisions have been critical to proving the company has new areas for growth that aren’t entirely dependent on the iPhone, helping to satiate Wall Street when smartphone sales are on the upswing.

New devices like the ones Bloomberg says are in the pipeline could go a long way in advancing both fields. Smart glasses, for example, can be seen as an evolution of AirPods in a sense, while the smart home display can enhance digital services such as Apple Music.

It also wouldn’t be the first time Apple has developed a new gadget with Siri at its center. He launched the first HomePod smart speaker in 2018 as a response to offers from Amazon and Google aimed at attracting consumers with superior sound quality than competitors offered at the time. But the HomePod failed to gain the same traction, largely because Apple’s smart home platform and Siri were limited by comparison.

For the next wave of products, Apple will need to avoid making the same mistake. That’s why refining and expanding Siri’s capabilities now, before expanding into new product categories, would be a smart move. Bloomberg reports that Apple is doing just that; The company is reportedly working on a more conversational version of Siri that can handle two-way verbal exchanges.

For Apple, the bar is particularly high. It’s not enough for products like Apple Intelligence, smart glasses or a smart home display to work well. Apple’s ecosystem and the way hardware and software work together make an Apple product what it is, a point Apple often acknowledges and is proud of. If we are indeed moving towards a world where virtual assistants don’t just help you navigate the operating system, but get up operating system, then Siri will become primary rather than secondary.