Apple is working to bring a big change to its voice assistant’s phrase from Hey Siri to just Siri. Currently, users on iOS iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, tvOS, and audioOS have to say “Hey Siri” to launch the voice assistant, but Apple is working to change and simplify that to just “Siri”, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
If successful, the shift from “Hey Siri” to “Siri” would match rival and retail giant Amazon’s shift from Hey Alexa to Alexa. Google, meanwhile, is also making changes to the prompt “OK Google” or “Hey Google” by making follow-up requests without repeating the wake word.
By removing the “Hey” in “Hey Siri,” Apple would also, in turn, speed up back-to-back requests. The tech giant has recently made a few other tweaks to Siri, including redesigning the interface on the Apple TV as part of tvOS 16.1, Bloomberg’s Gurman said.
If the change is implemented, it would also put Apple’s Siri ahead of Google Assistant, which requires the “Ok Google” or “Hey Google” phrases to activate the voice assistant, though users do not have to repeat the wake word when saying back-to-back requests. Before shutting down its voice assistant last year, even Microsoft had shifted from ‘Hey Cortana’ to ‘Cortana’ on smart speakers.
For me, an even better change would be Apple allowing users—by voice—to specify which device they want to trigger. Let me take out the world’s smallest violin here for owners of multiple Apple devices, but the company should really allow users to specify if they want to trigger their iPhone, iPad or HomePod for Siri, the report added.
Meanwhile, Pegatron Corp, Apple’s Taiwanese contract manufacturer, has started assembling its latest iPhone 14 model in India, news agency Bloomberg had reported last week. According to the news agency, this move makes Pegatron the second Apple supplier to produce the iPhone 14 in India.
The development comes at a time when Apple’s key iPhone Pro manufacturing facility in Zhengzhou, China, operated by Foxconn Technology Group, was placed under an abrupt Covid-19 lockdown by authorities. That situation put a spotlight on Apple’s deep reliance on China, though the India expansion was in line with diversification plans already in place, sources told Bloomberg. Apple, however, declined to comment and Pegatron did not respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment.