Today Marks the 10th Anniversary of Apple Introducing the iPhone 4S With Siri

Today marks the 10th anniversary of Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller and former iOS chief Scott Forstall introducing the iPhone 4S with an all-new voice assistant, Siri.

siri phil schiller
"For decades, technologists have teased us with this dream that you're going to be able to talk to technology and it'll do things for us," said Schiller, at a small press conference at Apple's former Infinite Loop headquarters.

Schiller then invited Forstall on stage to provide a live demo of Siri. The crowd applauded as he demonstrated what are now basic Siri tasks such as checking the weather, setting an alarm, and searching the web, as Siri was the first system-level voice assistant on a smartphone. A decade later, however, it is a commonly held opinion that Siri has fallen behind competitors like Google Assistant and Amazon's Alexa.

The Verge's James Vincent wrote about Siri's shortcomings today:

Everyone who uses Siri has their own tales of frustration — times when they've been surprised not by the intelligence but the stupidity of Apple's assistant, when it fails to carry out a simple command or mishears a clear instruction. And while voice interfaces have indeed become widespread, Apple, despite being first to market, no longer leads. Its "humble personal assistant" remains humble indeed: inferior to Google Assistant on mobile and outmaneuvered by Amazon's Alexa in the home.

In 2018, some former Apple employees reflected on Siri's "squandered lead" over Google Assistant and Alexa. In response, Apple said it had made significant advances to Siri's performance, scalability, and reliability, and said it continued to invest deeply in machine learning and artificial intelligence to continually improve Siri's quality of answers.

In hindsight, the iPhone 4S event as a whole had a bit of a somber feeling to it, as Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs passed away the following day. We've embedded a video of the event below, with Schiller introducing Siri around the 19:25 mark.


P.S.: If you say "happy birthday" to Siri today, the voice assistant offers up some fun replies.

Top Rated Comments

AngerDanger Avatar
28 months ago
10 years old and doesn't act a day over beta… ?
Score: 83 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Schizoid Avatar
28 months ago
“Hey Siri, have you got better over the past ten years?”

”here’s what I found on the web about battering pasties and tin shears”
Score: 52 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dukebound85 Avatar
28 months ago
amazing.....no real functionality improvements over a decade
Score: 42 Votes (Like | Disagree)
blacktape242 Avatar
28 months ago
and after 10 years its still pretty terrible.
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ElectricPotato Avatar
28 months ago
10 years and I still cringe when I hear people trying and failing to use it in public. Discretely googling something is more effective and considerate.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MrGimper Avatar
28 months ago
And has it improved that much in 10 years? Really?
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 17

iOS 17.2 Will Add These 12 New Features to Your iPhone

Friday December 1, 2023 12:19 pm PST by
iOS 17.2 has been in beta testing for over a month, and it should be released to all users in a few more weeks. The software update includes many new features and changes for iPhones, including the dozen that we have highlighted below. iOS 17.2 is expected to be released to the public in mid-December. To learn about even more features coming in the update, check out our full list. Journal ...
iOS 17

28 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in December's iOS 17.2 Update

Friday December 1, 2023 2:57 am PST by
Apple made the first beta of iOS 17.2 available to developers in October. Since then we've seen three more betas, and with each iteration Apple continues to add more new features and changes, many of which users have been anticipating for quite a while. Below, we've listed 28 new things that are coming to your iPhone when the finalized version is publicly released this December. 1. Help...
anker new xmas

Anker's Cyber Week Sale Enters Final Days With Up to 60% Off Sitewide

Friday December 1, 2023 12:05 pm PST by
Anker's Black Friday/Cyber Week event is entering its final days this weekend, and it's still offering up to 60 percent off sitewide. There are also a few "mystery boxes" that can include hundreds of dollars in savings, if you're willing to risk not knowing what you're buying ahead of time. All of these sales will end on December 3. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Anker. When you...
iOS 17

Apple Releases iOS 17.1.2 With Security Fixes

Thursday November 30, 2023 10:12 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 17.1.2 and iPadOS 17.1.2, small updates to the iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 operating systems that Apple introduced in September. iOS 17.1.2 and iPadOS 17.1.2 come a few weeks after the release of iOS 17.1.1, another bug fix update. iOS 17.1.2 and iPadOS 17.1.2 can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update....
iPhone 16 Mock Header Updated 1

iPhone 16 to Include Action Button Across Entire Lineup

Thursday November 30, 2023 4:08 pm PST by
The release of the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max saw the introduction of an entirely new user-configurable button known as the Action button, and now, MacRumors has seen extensive evidence confirming Apple is planning to include the Action button on the entire iPhone 16 range. Designs and plans for the Action button date back to at least 2021, as the button was intended for release alongside hapt...
top stories 2dec2023

Top Stories: iOS 17.1.2 Released, NameDrop Misinformation, and More

Saturday December 2, 2023 6:00 am PST by
Apple employees are back to work following a Thanksgiving break, and that means this week saw a number of new operating system updates for both public release and beta testing. This week also saw some misinformation about Apple's new NameDrop feature making the rounds, while Apple and Goldman Sachs appear to be on the verge of a break-up in their Apple Card and savings account partnership,...
paramount plus logo

Apple and Paramount Considering Discounted TV+ Streaming Bundle

Friday December 1, 2023 4:40 am PST by
Apple and Paramount have discussed bundling their TV streaming services at a discount, according to a new report by The Wall Street Journal. The companies have talked about offering a combination of Paramount+ and Apple TV+ that would cost less than subscribing to both services separately, according to people familiar with the discussions. The discussions are in their early stages, and it is ...
General Apps Messages

Green Bubbles on iPhone to Gain These 7 New Features Next Year

Thursday November 30, 2023 9:00 am PST by
Earlier this month, Apple announced that it will finally support RCS in the Messages app on the iPhone starting later next year. This change will result in several improvements to the messaging experience between iPhones and Android devices. RCS will become the new default standard for messaging between iPhones and Android devices, but these conversations will still have green bubbles like...