Lana

Next up.

Say farewell to the Siri you know.

Apple is turning its virtual assistant into a chat-style AI-powered one, ready to run across your devices from later this year.

Siri's, well, just okay.

It sometimes recognizes your voice, usually finds the wrong playlist, and occasionally answers a question you didn't ask.

So Apple wants to go one better, promising a version of Siri that is actually smart enough to understand you, stay on task, and be genuinely useful.

To do that, it'll replace Siri's current interface with a chatbot, codenamed Campos, that can search the web, create content and images, analyze files, and control your device through voice or text commands.

And because it'll live within Apple's existing operating systems, rather than launching as a standalone app like ChatGPT, it'll work inside your most used apps like Mail, Photos, Music, and Calendar.

Apple has had a little help from its friends here.

Instead of sinking years into its own AI stack, it's licensing Google's Gemini to power Siri's upgrade for a price.

Apple's agreed to pay Google $1 billion per year, leaving analysts thinking that it's behind in AI.

Apple has hardly blown investors' black turtlenecks off this year.

The stock is down about 8% so far.

Investors are fretting that pricier memory components will eat into profit margins.

And Apple's long-term contracts mean those higher costs will only bite down the line.

But in the shorter term, analysts seem positive about Apple's next results drop, slated for January 29th.

They think the iPhone will have sold well during the holiday season.

Add in a lot of shipments to China and higher price tags, and Goldman Sachs forecasts double-digit revenue growth for the flagship product.

And Apple's services arm is expected to hold its own, too.

That's it for today.