Apple Might Soon Let Users in Europe Replace Siri
While Siri isn’t a cash cow, it’s supposed to be the connective tissue across the entire ecosystem.
In recent times, it’s almost like the EU has made it a mission to chip away at Apple’s walled garden. First came the USB-C mandate, forcing Apple to ditch its proprietary Lightning port. Then came the App Store shake-ups, with Spotify and Epic Games still locked in battles over app payment rules. Now, the next domino may be Siri.
According to Bloomberg, Apple is preparing to let users in the EU change their default voice assistant, likely starting with iPhones, MacBooks, and iPads, to a third-party option like Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, or even AI chatbots such as ChatGPT or DeepSeek. Currently, Siri acts as a middleman, forwarding complex queries to ChatGPT. But with this update, users might be able to bypass Siri entirely. While the move aligns with EU regulations like the Digital Markets Act, it also puts pressure on one of Apple’s most iconic, if underwhelming, services.
Kelechi Edeh
That’s why this shift matters. Apple’s services sector made up 25% of its revenue last year, per Visual Capitalist, and while Siri isn’t a cash cow, it’s supposed to be the connective tissue across the entire ecosystem. But let’s face it, Siri hasn’t exactly aged gracefully. Apple’s long-promised Siri makeover, bundled into its broader “Apple Intelligence” vision, is still nowhere to be seen. Unveiled at WWDC 2024, Apple Intelligence promised everything from AI-generated photo memories to smart notification summaries. But the release dates have slipped again and again. Apple even had to pull marketing claims from its site after failing to deliver.
Behind the scenes, things sound tense. Reports suggest internal concerns, with a senior director calling the delays "ugly and embarrassing." There’s also talk of a full rebuild, replacing Siri’s hybrid system with a model built entirely on large language models (LLMs). Until then, Apple’s answer to AI seems to be outsourcing, letting ChatGPT fill in the gaps Siri can’t.
Kelechi Edeh
Allowing third-party assistants might buy Apple some time, but it also chips away at the seamless Apple experience they’ve spent years perfecting. And with executives like Eddy Cue warning that AI could disrupt Apple the same way the iPhone disrupted Nokia, the stakes feel higher than ever.
For Apple, this isn’t just about catching up in AI, it’s about staying relevant in a rapidly changing tech world. And right now, even a billion loyal users might not be able to save Apple if its core experiences start feeling obsolete.
