A report from Tuesday indicates that Apple’s upcoming iPhone 6s will include always-on “Hey Siri” voice activation, allowing users to ask Siri for help without pushing the Home button, even when the device isn’t plugged-in.
Referred to as “hotwording,” the upcoming iPhone 6s function will work much like Android’s “OK Google” service, which enables hands-free Web searches, message composition, voice calls, control of general device functions and more, according to a reliable source familiar with the matter. Apple’s Siri provides similar capabilities, but the device must be connected to a power for “Hey Siri” voice activation to work.
The “Hey Siri” function can be activated from anywhere within iOS 9, say AppleInsider’s sources. So users can check a date, or conduct a search while composing email, or browsing the web.
The “Hey Siri” functionality has not appeared in the beta of iOS 9, suggesting the new feature might be exclusive to Apple’s new handsets. Some Android handsets that support Google’s always-on “OK Google” feature use a specialized monitoring chip to wake the device without impacting battery life. It is possible Apple has built-in something similar into the hardware of their new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6 Plus handsets.
Apple is expected to debut their new handsets later today, and alongside those, we also expect to see a fourth-generation Apple TV, the debut of iOS 9, and likely a new 12.9-inch iPad Pro and accompanying accessories, an iPad mini 4, as well as new Apple Watch bands, and possibly new finishes for theApple Watch.
The big event begins at 1PM Eastern/10AM Pacific, and Apple will provide a livestream of the event, which will be available to users of iOS devices, Macs, Apple TVs, and PCs. For those of you who can’t access the livestream, join us here at MacTrast, where we’ll be liveblogging the event, and reporting on all of the announcements following the event.
