Why Assistant Needs an A5 and How it Was 'Many Iterations' Ahead of its Competitors

Mockup of Apple's expected Assistant interface
Siri co-founder Norman Winarsky provides some details and impressions of their original Siri Assistant technology
in an interview with
9to5Mac. Siri was a
virtual assistant application that was released for the iPhone back in
February, 2010. While the app still remains in the App Store, the company was
acquired by Apple back in April, 2010.
Apple is expected to finally launch their own version of this intelligent assistant interface alongside the new iPhone at tomorrow's media event. The new feature is expected to be exclusive to the new iPhone which carries a faster A5 processor.
Winarsky provides some details about why the software would require so much processing power. While the original version of the software does run on the iPhone 3GS, he says that "all kinds of optimizations and shortcuts" were done to get it to work on the device. Winarsky reports that it will likely run "much better" on a faster phone.
Winarsky is also not bashful about what the significance of Apple's adaptation of Siri technology would mean, calling it a "World-Changing" event:
Make no mistake: Apple’s ‘mainstreaming’ Artificial Intelligence in the form of a Virtual Personal Assistant is a groundbreaking event. I’d go so far as to say it is a World-Changing event. Right now a few people dabble in partial AI enabled apps like Google Voice Actions, Vlingo or Nuance Go. Siri was many iterations ahead of these technologies, or at least it was two years ago. This is REAL AI with REAL market use. If the rumors are true, Apple will enable millions upon millions of people to interact with machines with natural language. The PAL will get things done and this is only the tip of the iceberg. We’re talking another technology revolution. A new computing paradigm shift.
Many have compared the technology to Google's Voice Actions for Android, but Winarsky believes their technology was much more advanced.
This video provides a mockup of what is expected to be the workflow for Apple's Assistant technology:
Apple will be launching the new iPhone tomorrow, October 4th, and is believed to be launching this Assistant software as well.
Popular Stories
At today's WWDC 2025 keynote event, Apple unveiled a new design that will inform the next decade of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS development, so needless to say, it was a busy day. Apple also unveiled a ton of new features for the iPhone, an overhauled Spotlight interface for the Mac, and a ton of updates that make the iPad more like a Mac than ever before.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel ...
Apple today announced that iPadOS 26 will be compatible with the iPad models listed below.
iPadOS 26 features a new Liquid Glass design, a menu bar, improved app windowing, and more.
iPadOS 26 supports the following iPad models:iPad Pro (M4)
iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later)
iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation and later)
iPad Air (M2 and later)
iPad Air (3rd generation and...
Apple at WWDC previewed a bunch of new features coming in its updated operating systems, but certain changes will have been met with dismay by third-party developers who already offer apps with equivalent or similar features. In other words, their product has been "sherlocked" by Apple.
When Apple creates an app or a feature that has functionality found in a third-party app, it is referred...
In 2020, Apple added a digital car key feature to its Wallet app, allowing users to lock, unlock, and start a compatible vehicle with an iPhone or Apple Watch. The feature is currently offered by select automakers, including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and a handful of others, and it is set to expand further.
During its WWDC 2025 keynote today, Apple said that 13...
Apple has announced iOS 26, and the upcoming software update includes a long list of new features and changes for iPhones.
The first iOS 26 developer beta is now available, and a public beta will follow next month. The update will be released later this year.
iOS 26 is compatible with the iPhone 11 and newer.
Below, we have provided a high-level overview of 100 new features and changes ...
iOS 26 features a whole new design material that Apple calls Liquid Glass, with a focus on transparency that lets the content on your display shine through the controls. If you're not a fan of the look, or are having trouble with readability, there is a step that you can take to make things more opaque without entirely losing out on the new look.
Apple has multiple Accessibility options that ...
With iOS 26, Apple has introduced some major changes to the iPhone experience, headlined by the new Liquid Glass redesign that's available across all compatible devices. However, several of the update's features are exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models, since they rely on Apple Intelligence.
The following features are powered by on-device large language models and machine...
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup.
If you skipped the iPhone...