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Apple's voice-controlled virtual assistant built into iPhones, Macs, and other devices, now being overhauled with outside AI models such as Google's Gemini.
Apple CEO John Ternus argued in a TIME interview that Siri does not need to win the AI intelligence race, Tom's Guide reported. The new US Siri draws on Google's Gemini technology, so Apple's bet rests on what the phone already holds.
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Speaking in Shanghai on Thursday, Tim Cook said Apple Intelligence has been approved in China. A test version comes later this month, without Siri AI. A filter built with Alibaba lets the government approve ongoing updates to the models.
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Apple says Siri AI will reach second-generation and later Apple TV 4K models in beta with tvOS 27.2, so owners can skip the $299 new box to get it. Only the new box adds hands-free voice and four-speaker audio, and MacRumors says it is unclear how much of the A19 upgrade an Apple TV will use.
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Apple priced the HomePod mini 2 at $149, $20 above the original's last price of $129. MacRumors calls Siri AI perhaps the most consequential improvement, but it has no release date, so the choice turns on what the speaker does on day one.
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Apple says its $149 HomePod mini 2 gets the new Siri AI from a nearby Apple Intelligence device, such as an iPhone 15 Pro or newer. The speaker cannot run the AI alone, so what a room gets depends on which iPhones and iPads are around.
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ZDNET's writer is keeping 11 Echo devices after Apple priced HomeView at $299, against $179 for Amazon's Echo Hub and $199 for the Echo Show 8. The verdict comes from Apple's announcement and one household's setup, so it is a forecast of switching costs.
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Apple's HomeView pre-order pages, for a 7-inch device with an A18 chip, list no purchase, cart or payment function for Siri AI, Forkast reported. With no agent transaction defined, the merchant-of-record default stays in place.
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Apple's HomePod Mini 2, its first refresh in six years, offers Siri AI with or without an Apple Intelligence iPhone, ZDNet reports. The S10 chip inside comes from the Apple Watch, and what the assistant can do still depends on the paired phone.
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Apple is preparing HomeView, an A18-powered Siri home hub in countertop and wall-mount versions, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. Apple hopes third-party makers will build voice-controlled accessories with the hub as the connection point, according to a dev.to write-up.
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Apple will hold a "Welcome home" event on Oct. 13, where Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports a Siri-centered hub named HomeView is expected. Apple has confirmed only the event, and no outlet reviewed lists a price.
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Apple has tested built-in Apple TV microphones for hands-free Siri, along with a Siri Remote that has its own speaker, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. MacRumors says the microphones are not confirmed for the box shipping October 30, so the findable remote is the firmer bet.
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Apple set an October 13 'Welcome home' launch in New York, where it is expected to show a 6-inch smart home hub, a new Apple TV and a HomePod mini. MacRumors puts the hub near $350 each and says Apple pictures several per home, so a buyer's bill is per household.
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Apple has confirmed an October 13 'Welcome home' launch event that 9to5Mac expects to focus on new smart home products. Teams whose app is the screen a household runs on have the most to rethink that week, since Apple's rumored display is pitched as the hub.
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A hidden framework in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate spells out how camera-equipped AirPods would sample the world. It also appears to describe a product Apple has shelved.
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Apple's tvOS 27.2 beta 3 holds Apple Intelligence code that 9to5Mac and MacRumors expect to reach only a new Apple TV, due as soon as October 13. Going by the code, anyone buying an Apple TV this week gets a box that keeps the Siri it has today.
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Apple's macOS 27.2 beta 3 adds touch gesture code to Photos, Notes, Safari and Quick Look ahead of a touchscreen MacBook Pro expected as soon as October. Apple is building touch handling into its own apps one at a time, and Mac developers have only that code and press reports to judge how much of the same work their apps will need.
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Apple's second 27.2 public betas are the same builds developers got a day earlier as beta 3. Testers can use what is visible now, but the Apple TV 4K and HomePod features in the code stay hidden until Apple announces them.
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Apple seeded the third iOS 27.2 developer beta on October 5, 18 days before the iPhone Duo goes on sale with a Duo-only iOS 27.1. App teams now have to cover shipping iOS 27, the 27.2 beta other iPhones will get, and a 27.1 they can test in Xcode's Duo simulator.
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Apple plans three smart home devices for October, all built around Siri AI, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. That puts a Siri that BGR says needed Google's Gemini models to ship between every household and the home integrations it uses.
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Apple's iOS 27 Siri can read content from any app that lets Spotlight index it, and users can block each app with a single toggle. For app teams, a Spotlight setting now also decides what an assistant can read back to users.
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