Apple’s ambitious effort to reinvent Siri with artificial intelligence could face a significant hurdle: most existing iPhones are not capable of running the company’s newest AI features, according to a Morgan Stanley analysis reported by Reuters.
The warning comes a day after Apple unveiled a major overhaul of its voice assistant at its Worldwide Developers Conference, positioning the new AI-powered Siri as a centerpiece of its strategy to compete with offerings from rivals including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Anthropic’s Claude.
Morgan Stanley estimates that more than 850 million iPhones currently in use cannot run even basic Apple Intelligence functions at the same time, over 1.3 billion devices lack the hardware required for advanced Siri capabilities. The limitations stem from the processing power and memory needed to perform AI tasks directly on the device, a key component of Apple’s privacy-focused approach.
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According to Reuters, only the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16 lineup, and newer devices can fully support the upgraded AI features. Apple’s advanced Siri system requires newer chip architecture and at least 12 gigabytes of unified memory for many on-device AI functions.
The findings highlight a challenge that could affect millions of consumers, including Indian Americans, who make up a significant share of Apple’s customer base in the United States. While AI has emerged as the technology industry’s most important battleground, persuading users to upgrade smartphones primarily for AI features may prove difficult amid economic uncertainty and longer device replacement cycles.
Apple is betting that a more conversational Siri, deeper integration with apps, and personalized assistance based on user data will help close the gap with competitors that have moved faster in generative AI. The company has emphasized that many of these capabilities will operate on-device rather than in the cloud, allowing Apple to maintain its longstanding focus on privacy.
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The Siri upgrade also follows a series of delays. Apple acknowledged earlier that some planned AI enhancements would take longer than expected to reach consumers, raising investor concerns about the company’s ability to keep pace in the rapidly evolving AI market.
For now, analysts say Apple’s AI strategy may depend as much on convincing customers to buy newer devices as on the capabilities of the software itself. Whether consumers view AI as a compelling reason to upgrade could determine how quickly Apple’s latest vision for Siri reaches its vast global user base.