New Siri is here… finally. It’s built with deep usage of Alphabet’s Gemini model and can do a lot more than the previous version. Updates include multi-step agentic tasks across apps and more personalized context awareness so this work is more relevantly executed. Apple and Google also collaborated on the Apple's new foundational models. With these models, Apple upgraded existing tools like summaries, natural-language-powered workflow creation and writing assistance. Notably, Siri is also now a standalone app. This evolves it from a voice-based Apple hardware assistant to a destination for AI querying, much like Gemini, ChatGPT, or Claude. They already have ubiquitous consumer hardware distribution, so it's natural to think they can find at least a little bit of share in the chatbot arena.
In terms of when Gemini or Apple models (built with the help from Gemini) will be used for queries, it’s based on complexity. The most complex queries will be routed to Gemini models. The simplest inputs will be processed on device and moderately challenging queries will be processed in Apple’s Private Cloud.
Furthermore, while Apple is using Gemini to help build its own foundation models and allowing customers to use Gemini as their default model for AI assistant use cases on the iPhone, that’s not their only option. Apple is allowing customers to pick Claude or ChatGPT as their default models too. I think it's the right decision for them to allow consumers to use whatever model they want, rather than locking everyone into Gemini. Even though Safari has always been the default browser experience, it has always been very easy to use other web browsers and install competing browsing apps on an iPhone. So why not enable consumer choice whenever possible today? That's their mentality, and it makes sense.
Cool iOS 27 updates included auto-splitting a restaurant bill with a picture and a few quick steps. It also added a proactive bad password fixer to improve consumer security. In other news, the phone app can now pull data from other apps like Apple Mail during calls based on words spoken. Other operating system updates across devices focused on speed and performance improvements over new designs or product updates. For example, iPhone and iPad apps now launch 30% faster, while iPad file transfers are now up to 5X faster compared to last year’s operating systems.
Updated Visual Intelligence to extend to iPad, Mac and Vision Pro. It also added Spatial Reframing (adjust camera angle) and more iPhone content tools to the Photos app.
Apple teased “homeOS” to set the stage for future smart home hardware.
Finally, Apple debuted a new Child Account that allows parents to set screen time limits, autoblock inappropriate content across apps and restrict certain apps altogether. It also has settings that force a child account to request permission to browse.
Was anything in this release monumentally amazing? No. But it was very important for Apple to finally get its upgraded and AI-powered Siri launched. The child account release could be a sneaky enabler in terms of making parents more comfortable with purchasing iPhones and other hardware for their kids earlier on in life.
I also think creating a standalone Siri app makes a ton of sense. Apple's explicitly seen how much traffic and fun chatbots have been able to garner. Why not take a piece of that? Now they are. This was Tim Cook's last WWDC keynote as CEO of Apple. He has been a legendary leader for the company. While he may not have been the innovative trailblazer that Steve Jobs was… nobody really is. Criticizing him for that would be like criticizing you for not being as good as Aaron Judge at hitting a baseball. And he was a surgical operator and a fantastic person to carry the torch of Jobs' legendary success. He surrounded himself with great people, and made the changes that fortified iPhone's ubiquitous North American & global presence. He parlayed the success with a fantastic ramp in Apple's services business, and used all of this highly profitable success to bolster profit growth with regular buybacks. Congratulations on an extremely well-deserved next chapter, Tim Cook.
