Apple’s iPhone 17 roster arrived — with speedier silicon performance, a smaller “iPhone Air” and snazzier software — but with no AI-embellished Siri. That omission might sound discordant in a year when every tech company is peddling voice-controlled assistants, but in practical terms it’s unlikely to dampen desire or throw off Apple’s kingmaker strategy.
What Apple Did—and Didn’t—Announce
Onstage, Apple referenced AI sparingly. The company also reiterated features shown off at its developer conference, like Visual Intelligence for on-device processing, and a grab bag of writing, image and summarization tools. There were camera enhancements, which were also drawn from machine learning, of course, with the iPhone 17’s front-facing system incorporating Center Stage-style framing for calls.
The flashiest display of AI wasn’t on the phone but in the ear: AI-powered Live Translation for AirPods 3. That’s smart positioning — showing A.I. where it feels magical and immediate — but it highlighted what was lacking. The next-gen version of Siri never waved from the stage.
Inside, a more extensive overhaul of Siri is thought to be tracking for later release — perhaps next year, or even later than that, according to reports from Bloomberg and other sources. For now, Apple Intelligence is still a collection of fundamental features and not a single, star assistant.
Why a Late AI Siri Might Not Matter
Consumers will already mix and match services on an iPhone. Millions use Gmail, Google Maps, Chrome and Google Search over Apple’s first-party apps. So if users are ok moving their essentials to a new player, they would not mind an AI layer behind by a third party, especially if it’s privacy-gated, well integrated and works harmoniously with Apple’s devices.
Industry reporting suggests that Apple has investigated the use of model integrations from outfits such as Google and OpenAI. And if Apple takes a “best-in-class, not built-in-house” approach, it would even be able to surface the best-of-breed models directly through Siri and system features without mandating people go to standalone apps for them. That’s a point for usability — and another point for Apple’s brand promise of coherence.
There’s also the pace-of-change reality. Foundation models are evolving monthly. A modular system allows Apple to swap in or perhaps add new models as leaders appear, while keeping sensitive queries on-device when possible. It’s in line with Apple’s privacy stance and diminimizes the need to pour capex into cloud AI infra at the scale of its rivals.
What Partnerships Might Look Like
Most of the flow path, then, is likely to be a hybrid stack: small, efficient models for on-device tasks — message triage, image edits, visual lookup — alongside a cloud model for broad reasoning and complex queries. Apple supplies the guardrails and the UX; a partner provides the heavy lifting when needed.
Precedent exists. Apple already relies on outside search engines through longstanding agreements, and Spotlight uses multiple sources to respond to quick queries. Applying that logic to AI — by retaining attribution, controls and security in Apple’s hands — it would less a compromise than evolution.
According to forecasts made by Counterpoint Research, phones built using the modality might make up a significant portion of shipments in a couple of years. But device selection still boils down to ecosystem, camera quality, battery life and resale value. Even with headline AI features, some Android flagships have yet to cross double digits in global share, according to IDC’s data. AI in itself is no guarantee of mass-market momentum.
The Hardware Is Still Who Leads the Upgrade
Apple’s hardware cadence is still its superpower. IPhone Air is a bit–thinner; expanding the lineup, the camera stack keeps on chugging, and battery, thermal gains with every new silicon perk up. Those sorts of tangible features inspire consumers at the carrier counter far more effectively than demo-stage AI party tricks.
And design flourishes — everything from the Liquid Glass look to tighter haptic feedback loops — contribute to that feeling of polish. Add privacy-preserving features that keep more processing local, and Apple can sell iPhone as the high-end, safe space where AI shows up when it’s useful, and gets out of the way when it’s not.
More important, according to disclosures by the company, Apple now has an active device base above two billion. That scale allows Cupertino to roll out AI gradually and still deliver to hundreds of millions of people as soon as those pieces fall into place.
The Real Risk — and the Safety Net
If Apple succeeds to look no further than its Apple Intelligence and doesn’t manage to close the quality gap to the top models overall, then it will begin to lose mindshare on the queries that matter most in modern assistants. But a partner-ready architecture is a form of insurance, allowing Apple to plug in the best model for the job without needing to rewrite the operating system or befuddle users.
So IW, iPhone 17 doesn’t come with an AI-native Siri. And that won’t matter to most buyers. So the phones are better where it matters now, and the runway is open for Apple to switch on a more powerful assistant tomorrow — whether it’s house-powered in Cupertino, or by a well-fenced giant living behind the asteroid curtain.