Siri has long been a point of contention for Apple users. Despite the company's heavy investment in artificial intelligence and the much-touted Apple Intelligence initiative, the virtual assistant has remained stagnant for years. Two major iOS versions came and went without the promised supercharged Siri. At WWDC 2026, Apple finally delivered a revamped Siri AI that genuinely impressed early testers. However, not every iPhone owner will be able to use it. The new Siri requires Apple Intelligence compatibility, which restricts the upgrade to devices launched after the iPhone 15 Pro.

Which iPhones Are Supported?

Apple has confirmed that Siri AI will be available on all devices that support Apple Intelligence. This includes every iPhone from the iPhone 15 Pro onward, as well as iPads and Macs powered by Apple silicon. The 2024 iPad mini also makes the cut because it uses the same A17 Pro system-on-chip as the iPhone 15 Pro. If your device has an Apple Intelligence & Siri section in Settings, you are set to receive the AI-powered assistant when iOS 27 rolls out this fall.

Interestingly, Apple is initially releasing Siri AI as a beta. Users will likely need to manually opt in, much like those who tested the iOS 27 developer beta had to join a waitlist. Compatibility with iOS 27 itself is broad, covering devices as far back as the iPhone 11. But the AI features remain exclusive to the latest hardware. This fragmentation has drawn criticism, but Apple insists the on-device machine learning requirements demand the A17 Pro chip or newer.

What Makes Siri AI Different?

The new Siri is built on Apple's latest Foundation Models, which are stored on-device for faster and more private responses. It can handle complex queries and chained commands, understand context from messages, notes, emails, and photos, and even reference personal data when permitted. For more demanding requests, the system intelligently offloads tasks to bigger models running on Apple's Private Cloud Compute infrastructure. Apple claims this ensures that user data remains inaccessible to anyone else, including Apple itself.

Hands-on reports have been largely positive. The assistant is faster, more accurate, and finally competitive with offerings from Google and Amazon. In beta builds, it successfully completed multi-step tasks like booking a restaurant reservation while checking the calendar for availability and sending a confirmation message. This is a stark contrast to the previous Siri, which often struggled with basic follow-up questions.

Enhanced Features for Premium Models

Not all Apple Intelligence devices are created equal. Apple has revealed that the iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and the iPhone Air will run an even more powerful on-device model. This unlocks expressive voices for Siri, improved speech recognition, and more accurate dictation. The reason is simple: these models pack at least 12GB of RAM, which is required to host the largest on-device AI models.

The upcoming iPhone 18 Pro and the rumored iPhone Fold will also benefit from this high-memory configuration. However, it remains uncertain whether the base iPhone 18 will join them. Industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has reported that Apple is considering upgrading the RAM in non-Pro iPhones to 9GB, but that still falls short of the 12GB threshold Apple cites for the most advanced on-device AI capabilities.

A Look Back at Apple Intelligence

Apple first announced Apple Intelligence at WWDC 2024, promising a suite of on-device and cloud-based AI features. The initial rollout was rocky, with features like Image Playground and Genmoji arriving late or in limited form. Siri itself saw only minor improvements, leading to disappointment among users and critics alike. The delay was partly due to the complexity of training models that respect user privacy while remaining powerful.

By mid-2025, Apple had released several incremental updates, but the core Siri experience remained largely unchanged. Meanwhile, competitors like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa had integrated large language models, making conversational interactions seamless. Apple's silence on the matter only fueled speculation that the company had hit technical roadblocks. WWDC 2026 finally put those rumors to rest with a polished, functional Siri AI demo.

The decision to restrict the best features to premium models also aligns with Apple's history of tiered hardware support. For example, only the iPhone 15 Pro could run the first version of Apple Intelligence due to its 8GB of RAM. With Siri AI, the memory requirement has effectively doubled for the most advanced functions, creating a new divide between Pro and non-Pro devices.

Implications for iPhone Users

For those considering an upgrade, the choice now involves more than just camera quality or display size. The long-term software experience, especially AI capabilities, is becoming a key deciding factor. If you want the best Siri AI with expressive voices and local processing, you will need at least an iPhone 17 Pro or equivalent. Older Apple Intelligence devices still get the basic Siri AI upgrade, but without the advanced speech and dictation features.

Battery life and thermal management also play a role. Running large on-device models can drain power quickly, and Apple has optimized the A19 and M-series chips to handle AI workloads efficiently. The iPhone Air, in particular, is designed for sustained AI tasks without throttling. Users of older models may notice occasional stuttering during complex queries, but Apple's Private Cloud Compute should mitigate that for cloud-based tasks.

Apple has not yet announced pricing for the next generation of iPhones, but leaks suggest that the iPhone 18 Pro will start at an even higher price point. The addition of a dedicated AI neural engine in the A20 chip could further differentiate the lineup. For now, anyone holding an iPhone 14 or earlier will miss out entirely on Siri AI, unless they upgrade this fall.

As of July 2026, the iOS 27 beta is available for developers, and a public beta is expected in August. The stable release, including Siri AI, should arrive in September alongside the new iPhones. Users on the waitlist will be among the first to test the assistant. Early feedback indicates that Apple has finally delivered an assistant that understands and executes complex requests, though some regional variations in accent and language support remain.

Apple's focus on privacy, combined with on-device processing, has long been a selling point. Siri AI continues that tradition by ensuring that personal data does not leave the device unless absolutely necessary. The company is also working with third-party developers to allow Siri to control apps more deeply, a feature expected in early 2027. Meanwhile, the virtual assistant is poised to become a central part of the iPhone experience, finally living up to the expectations set years ago.

Source: Engadget News