This underrated Siri feature proves Apple can do AI but the iPhones voice assistant still needs a drastic makeover in 2026

Date:
Mon, 22 Dec 2025 14:57:59 +0000

Description:
After noticing the subtle improvements made to Siri Suggestions, I'm
convinced that Apple can bring meaningful AI upgrades to the iPhone in 2026.

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Apple is still very much behind the curve when it comes to delivering fully formed AI tools la Googles Magic Eraser and Samsungs Live Translate , but
the iPhone is not totally bereft of machine learning (ML) magic.

The best AI features are the invisible time-savers; tools that work in the background to help us use our smartphones less, not more. For example, Ive only recently come to appreciate just how much I rely on Apples
ever-improving Siri Suggestions tool.

Introduced way back in iOS 9 (meaning it has nothing to do with Apple Intelligence), Siri Suggestions is the ML feature behind those context-aware recommendations you see in various places on your iPhone in Search, in Mail, on the Home Screen and Lock Screen, or when sharing content between apps.

Siri Suggestions (and more) was discussed in the latest episode of the TechRadar podcast, which you can watch below (scrub to 11:27 for the AI discussion).

Siri Suggestions is the best example of your iPhone analyzing usage patterns and location information to anticipate your needs at any given moment. It guesses that you might want to send a photo of your dog to your family group chat, so it puts that group chat at the front of the sharing queue. You can also thank Siri Suggestions for automatically adding event details gathered from Mail (flights, reservations, etc.) to your calendar.

For me, though, Siri Suggestions is most useful in Search; specifically, its responsible for the tray of apps that appears when you swipe down on your iPhones Lock Screen or Home Screen. And Im convinced that Siris ability to deliver apps that I genuinely need has improved drastically over the past 12 months, because it seems to make the right recommendation 90% of the time.

When I finish work and head to the train station, for instance, Siri Suggestions without fail has my train timetable app ready and waiting for
me at the front of the app queue in Search. Or, when I remember in a frenzy that I need to complete my daily Duolingo lesson at 11pm, I find that Siri Suggestions has, more often than not, moved that particular app to the front of the queue.

It sounds silly and unimportant, but these recommendations save me seconds every day I rarely need to scroll through four pages of apps to find what Im looking for, because my iPhone has my routine nailed down. And sure, thats
not as impressive as having a phone that can teach me how to bake a lemon souffl or work as an AI agent to make a restaurant reservation using information gathered from only my voice (youll need one of the best Pixel phones for that), but Apple does deserve credit for delivering some degree of AI functionality on its iPhones. For Android-rivalling AI features, Apple's best iPhones reply on third-party apps (Image credit: Shutterstock / Tada Images)

Indeed, this time last year, I wrote that smartphone manufacturers were missing the point of AI . Ive never felt compelled to superimpose my face
into a group photo I wasnt a part of using Googles Best Take feature, or send my flatmate a weightlifting squirrel emoji using Genmoji on iPhone, or create infinite new wallpapers using Samsungs Generative wallpaper tool, I complained. Apple, Google, and Samsung seem intent on marketing the heck out of their most superfluous AI features, rather than showing me how their
latest products can actually make my everyday life easier.

For the most part, I still feel the same way. However, the subtle
improvements made to lesser-known features like Siri Suggestions have renewed my faith in the promise of AI on smartphones. Heres hoping that, for the best iPhones at least, Siri 2.0 builds on that progress in 2026.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/phones/iphone/this-underrated-siri-feature-proves-ap ple-can-do-ai-but-the-iphones-voice-assistant-still-needs-a-drastic-makeover-i n-2026


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