Apple's improved AI is finally coming (again)
Second time the charm, maybe?
We’ve all heard it before. In 2024, Apple promised an upgraded Siri for iOS 18, but ended up pushing back the timeline multiple times. But this time around, with help from Google Gemini, Apple’s finally ready to roll out the new Siri AI come September.
Announced earlier at WWDC 2026, Siri Ai, powered by Apple Intelligence (Apple’s clever take on the AI acronym), will make its way to devices (with caveats), such as the Apple iPhone, the Apple Watch, iPad, Macs, and the Apple Vision Pro.
You get features such as being able to understand what’s on your screen, understanding personal context, or even helping you split bills (but limited to Apple Cash). Visual Intelligence appears to have merged right into the Camera app on the iPhone, which makes a lot more sense to me than a separate instance. It’s also available for iPad and Mac, though with different implementations (screenshot and shortcut key).
You also get the usual writing stuff, but apparently tailored to your own writing style, and offer suggestions. It all feels very personalised, which is a very Apple thing to do. There’s also an customisable on-device version of Siri that you can change the voice, but limited to the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, iPhone 17 Air, iPad models with M4 and later, Mac models with M3 or later, with at least 12GB of unified memory.
This does mean that the built-for-Apple Intelligence iPhone 16 isn’t actually really built-for it, and while it will have Siri AI, you won’t get the full experience. The excellent iPhone 17 base model will also not be getting the customisable Siri AI voice model, giving customers a reason to finally go for the Pro versions. Then again, it’s likely the future base iPhone 18 will have Siri AI, so I guess it’s just down to how much Apple thinks its AI features matter.
I did like one feature though — Spatial Reframing. It uses the on-device model and lets you change the composition of a photo. Took something too low? You can tweak it slightly, by dragging it around. Apple will then use Generative AI to fill in the blanks, and tries to keep it consistent with the original image. This will be interesting to see and test in action, especially with multiple different (and difficult) shots. After all, the Clean Up feature isn’t the best compared with Android equivalents (that probably use cloud processing), but perhaps that may improve when this launches.
And while Apple Intelligence looks and sounds great at the announcement, I’d argue that Apple really didn’t need to bother chasing the AI trend. Their phones have sold well even when they didn’t have a generative AI assistant, and I honestly stopped trying to use ChatGPT on Visual Intelligence because it didn’t work almost all of the times I tried to get it to identify something.
I really just want a Siri that works well at actually understanding my smart home commands, and that’s it. Generative AI assistants simply take the thinking away from you, making you completely brain dead — just look at the amount of AI written “stories” on social platforms. But maybe taking a more user-focused generative AI approach is exactly what will make me want to use it.
I guess we’ll find out soon.
This week, we tried the new features on the Xiaomi 17T Pro and 17T, tested Honor’s latest foldable, and typed up a storm using Asus’ latest premium keyboard.
Bought a new Xiaomi 17T or 17T Pro smartphone? You’re in for a treat as these phones pack plenty of new features that may even surprise long-time Xiaomi users. Check out the five cool features that you should try first in our helpful guide below.
The Honor Magic V6 is not just one of the most pocketable foldables you can buy now, it also has a super-strong hinge that’s rated for 500,000 folds. The foldable is also rated IP68 and IP69 for water and dust resistance, and the crease is about as invisible as it gets. And that’s before we get to the flagship hardware powering it. Downside: It’s more expensive than before, with prices starting at S$2,599 for the 512GB model.
The only reason I think the Asus ROG Azoth 96 HE Lite exists is because people like to flex their gear. This pricey premium keyboard (around S$500) certainly offers gamers the chance to impress others, not just in the game (which this keyboard helps with its customisable magnetic switches), but also as a centrepiece for their gaming PC setup.