Siri’s iOS 27 upgrade sounds exactly right. Apple’s AI pin sounds exactly wrong

Two big Apple AI stories today, and they couldn’t feel further apart. First is Apple reportedly embracing chat as an interface for using Siri and AI throughout iOS and macOS later this year. That sounds like an amazing change of tune for the company. Apple would argue it isn’t a pivot away from avoiding chat, they just think chat is only useful if it’s deeply integrated with the system. Second is Apple developing an AI wearable pin. What strikes me about this one is how much it feels like a bad idea while the possibility of Jony Ive doing the same thing for OpenAI actually works.

One company’s AI product is another company’s mistake

The difference is that Apple already ships amazing hardware. OpenAI is purely software for now, so they need to sell us on a new hardware form factor for us to buy in. Apple already has a very capable wearable with mainstream adoption that an AirTag-sized accessory can’t compare to.

What wearable has microphones, a speaker, wireless charging, and a physical button? Apple’s in-development AI pin apparently, but also Apple Watch. It also has a screen, and even OpenAI has found utility in integrating visual elements with voice chat.

The main difference is that Apple’s rumored AI pin is said to have two cameras. The thing is, putting cameras in AirPods, as rumored, and apparently this AirTag-sized pin sounds more challenging than using those same image sensors in an Apple Watch. Who knows. Maybe this in-development pin concept has already been tried and dismissed by a company that tests lots of things and ships few new categories of products. If so, I hope these ideas make it to a future version of the Apple Watch.

While we’re at it, go ahead and delay the Siri home hub once more

And one closing thought: Apple should probably hold back the long-delayed-but-not-yet-announced smart home hub with a screen. Apple’s delayed-but-already-announced upgrade to Siri has already made the product miss a 2025 release. Meanwhile, Amazon fumbles with its own AI home hub thing. Releasing a fully baked Apple home hub screen with the far more capable, chatbot version of Siri that Gurman revealed through reporting today sounds much more compelling than the “Siri but smarter with Gemini” version that would ship before September OS releases.