Apple is copying Amazon’s Alexa with a major change to Siri, a respected leaker claims.
According to Apple tipster Mark Gurman, Siri users will soon only need to say ‘Siri’ instead of ‘Hey Siri’ when activating the personal assistant.
The change would match Alexa, the virtual assistant from rival Amazon, which requires to users to simply say ‘Alexa’ without the word ‘hey’ first.
It could be implemented across multiple Apple operating systems, including iOS for iPhones, as well as iPadOS, watchOS, macOS and more.
Gurman has already revealed Apple is planning to unveil its mixed reality headset in less than two months.
Apple’s voice-controlled personal assistant is built in to iOS, its operating system for its iPhones, as well as iPadOS, watchOS, macOS and more
Gurman – who has an 86.5 per cent accuracy rating on Apple Tracker – revealed the news in a recent issue of his weekly Power On newsletter.
The change to Siri could be implemented either this year or in 2024, he said.
‘The company is working on an initiative to drop the “Hey” in the trigger phrase so that a user only needs to say “Siri” along with a command,’ he said.
‘The company has been testing the simplified wake word with employees and collecting the necessary training data.’
Gurman said it may seem like ‘a small change’, but for Apple employees it’s been a ‘technical challenge’ that has required a ‘significant amount of AI training and underlying engineering work’.
‘The complexity involves Siri being able to understand the singular phrase “Siri” in multiple different accents and dialects,’ he said.
‘Having two words – “Hey Siri” – increases the likelihood of the system properly picking up the signal.’
Apple will also integrate Sir deeper into third-party apps and services and ‘improve its ability to understand users and take the correct course of action’, the leaker added.
According to MacRumors, updates to Siri could be included in iOS 17, Apple’s next major software update.
iOS 17 is expected to be revealed at the annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), which will take place between June 5 and June 9, Apple recently confirmed.
One of the most anticipated Apple products ever, a mixed reality headset, is also expected to be launched at WWDC, following years of speculation from fans.
Expected to cost $3,000 (£2,400), the new headset will overlay digital objects on a view of the real world.
Augmented reality (AR) layers computer-generated images on top of an existing reality – Pokémon Go being a famous example – while virtual reality (VR) is wholly virtual and mixed reality (MR) combines the two.
According to Gurman, the product was demonstrated for 100 of the firm’s top brass at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California in March and will make its public debut at WWDC.
The leaker has described it as ‘the next major platform beyond the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch’.
Just like the iPhone and the Apple Watch, the headset will be followed by new updated iterations in the following years.
While Gurman thinks the first version will be a ‘dud’ in terms of sales compared with the company’s existing hardware, future versions will likely do better as the product finds its place.
A glimpse of the new headset? A cryptic promo image for Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) this year features curving coloured lines
This year’s five-day WWDC will be presented online, although there will be an opportunity for ‘developers and students to celebrate in person at a special experience’ hosted at Apple Park (pictured), the firm’s Cupertino HQ, on the opening day (June 5)
For now, Apple will have to explain to consumers why they’d want to own such a device and how it’s an improvement over the likes of iPhone and iPad.
Apple’s Technology Development Group – the team behind its mixed-reality efforts – has discreetly shown the product to the company’s top decision-makers every year since 2018, Gurman added.
But earlier demos were lower-key affairs compared to the one in March, which was ‘Apple’s biggest showcase’ prior to the official launch.
When exactly it will be released is unknown, although Apple doesn’t wait long to release products following their announcement so it will likely hit the shelves later in 2023.
Ming-Chi Kuo, another analyst and Apple leaker based in Taiwan, has already said that the headset will come packed with two processors – one ‘similar’ those used in its Mac computers and iPads, and another to manage ‘sensor-related aspects’.
Apple is working on an all-glass smartphone, patent suggests
Apple is working on an iPhone that has a glass display going all the way around, a new patent suggests.
Dubbed ‘a single slab of glass’, the patent shows a device with displays on both its front and back, as well as touchscreen buttons on its curved glass edges.
Fitting the back of an iPhone with a 360-degree glass display could potentially more than double the display size, without changing the shape or size of the device.
Users of the device could potentially have two different displays on the front and back, or alternatively keep one display facing them if they turned it in their hand.
British product designed Jony Ive, who worked for Apple from 1992 to 2019, previously spoke about the concept of an all-glass iPhone, dubbed ‘a single slab of glass’, according to reports going back to 2016.
Former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive (left) and Apple CEO Tim Cook inspect the iPhone XR during an Apple event at the Steve Jobs Theatre in September 2018. Ive may have sparked Apple’s work on an all-glass iPhone
Ive was responsible for pioneering many of the company’s most iconic products, including the iPod, iPhone and iPad.
Despite his departure to set up his own design company, work on an all-glass smartphone appears to still be making progress, the new patent suggests.
According to a report last year, Ive had a hand in delaying Apple’s augmented reality (AR) product, still yet to hit the market.
The AR headset was originally envisioned as dependent on an external device resembling a small Mac that handled most of its processing power and wirelessly broadcast the information to the headset.
While that would have made the headset much more powerful, Ive reportedly disliked the idea of making a headset that was contingent on separate hardware.
