Just ahead of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, Bloomberg published leaked images of what Apple’s planned AI upgrades will look like on the iPhone (including a new Siri app meant to rival ChatGPT and other AI chatbots) and how Siri’s new features will be incorporated throughout the operating system.
These images were created by Bloomberg based on information obtained from sources.
You can still press a button to launch Siri in iOS 27, but the animations and responses will now appear from the iPhone’s Dynamic Island. This is the black pill-shaped area at the top of the screen that currently contains live activity, real-time updates, and interactive displays from apps that appear directly on your phone’s home screen. This mode is great for quick voice queries and searches, similar to how people use Siri today.
But the new mode makes Siri search easily available, tapping into people’s muscle memory of swiping down the screen to access Spotlight search. Spotlight search is a built-in way to find information from both your phone and the web in one place. The swipe-down gesture will still open searches, but these searches will now be powered by Siri, powered by AI. Siri includes a rebuilt AI model that uses Google’s Gemini AI technology under the hood to power its intelligence.
From here, iPhone users can search, launch apps, start messages, ask about the weather, add calendar events, search for notes, and trigger shortcuts for apps, with results displayed in formatted text in a card-style interface that also appears from a dynamic island, Bloomberg reports.
Apple’s approach to AI is strikingly similar to its previous multibillion-dollar partnership with Google, which made Google the iPhone’s default search engine. Just as building a search engine from scratch wasn’t in Apple’s plan, AI presents similar calculations. It’s too expensive and complex to do alone, at least for now. That’s why Apple is working with external partners to deliver the AI technology users want today, while also building its own models that include local AI that runs on local devices rather than in the cloud. This approach allows Apple to lean into its privacy brand without having to follow suit.
Bloomberg also notes that, as previously reported, a new standalone Siri app is coming, designed to directly compete with chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. The app displays past chat history and also allows you to upload documents and photos in addition to text.
Scale remains Apple’s advantage. ChatGPT currently has 900 million weekly active users, while Apple’s installed base (all devices, not just iPhones) is 2.5 billion. This means the company has an unparalleled runway to bring AI to those who have not yet adopted standalone AI tools.
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