A new, relatively cheap iPhone and a Siri that improves on the existing version’s problems are imminent, according reports.
The company is planning to release an iPhone 17e, which will follow last year’s iPhone 16e, a cheaper version of the handset that uses older hardware to offer a lower-priced version of the Apple phone.
The new version will bring a better processor – the same as the full-priced iPhone 17 – as well as Apple’s own cellular and Wi-Fi chips, according to Bloomberg. It will also get wireless MagSafe charging for the first time in the cheaper models.
The price of $599 or £599 will not change, according to the same report.
Around the same time, Apple is planning to release a software update that will bring updated Siri features that were first unveiled at its Worldwide Developers Conference in summer of 2024. That will include the ability to use “personal context”, or bring data from elsewhere on the phone to help answer questions, as well as a feature that will let Siri see and control the things happening on screen.
Apple unveiled those as part of its Apple Intelligence offering, with much marketing and fanfare. But, in the time since, it has struggled to actually integrate them into the phone, leading to criticism that it had over-promised or is falling behind on artificial intelligence.
In the time since, it has gone through a host of shake-ups in its AI division, including losing the executive that were responsible for it. It has also announced a major tie-up with Google, aimed at improving the assistant, though it is unclear when the results of that work will actually arrive.
