iPhone 16 could get an upgraded microphone setup for enhanced Siri exprience

Apple's upcoming iPhone 16 series is expected to "feature a significant upgrade in microphone specifications" to improve the Siri experience, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in his latest survey report. The specification upgrade will benefit iPhone 16 microphone suppliers AAC and Goertek.

Kuo predicts that "the ASP of microphones for each iPhone 16 will be at least 100–150% higher than that of the iPhone 15." AAC Technologies, which has a smaller revenue scale, might benefit relatively more from the upgrade.

According to the analyst, the upgraded microphone setup is expected to arrive on all iPhone 16 models. It will have a better signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as a key specification to "improve the Siri experience significantly," alongside improved water resistance.

Kuo added that these changes "could indicate that Apple expects to integrate more AI/AIGC capabilities into Siri as a key selling point of the iPhone 16." Apple has to compete with the likes of Samsung, which recently introduced its generative AI model Gauss, and its Galaxy AI is expected to debut alongside the Galaxy S24 series next year.

Apple reorganized its Siri team in 3Q23 to integrate AIGC/LLM. Voice input will be the key interface for AI/AIGC/LLM on mobile smartphones, so strengthening Siri’s hardware and software features and specifications is the key to promoting AIGC.

AI-generated content (AIGC) has multiplied its presence in recent years, and Apple is no stranger to it. A recent report claims the Cupertino giant is working to bring some LLM-powered Siri features next year as part of iOS 18. The company is secretly building its own take on generative AI, unofficially known as Apple GPT.

Apple reportedly spends millions of dollars a day on its ChatGPT rival. Speaking of which, ChatGPT took the internet by storm and recently celebrated its first birthday. The generative AI chatbot is also the most searched topic on Wikipedia, with over 49 million page views.

Source: Ming-Chi Kuo

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