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Apple’s big AI rollout at WWDC will reportedly focus on making Siri suck less

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Apple will reportedly focus its first round of generative AI enhancements on beefing up Siri’s conversational chops. Sources speaking with The New York Times say company executives realized early last year that ChatGPT made Siri look antiquated. The company allegedly decided that the large language model (LLM) principles behind OpenAI’s chatbot could give the iPhone’s virtual assistant a much-needed shot in the arm. So Apple will reportedly roll out a new version of Siri powered by generative AI at its WWDC keynote on June 10.

Apple Senior Vice Presidents Craig Federighi and John Giannandrea reportedly tested ChatGPT for weeks before the company realized that Siri looked outdated. (I would argue that the epiphany came about a decade late.) What followed was what The NYT describes as Apple’s “most significant reorganization in more than a decade.”

The company sees generative AI as a once-in-a-decade tentpole area worth shifting heaps of resources to address. You may recall the company canceled its $10 billion “Apple Car” project earlier this year. Apple reportedly reassigned many of those engineers to work on generative AI.

Apple executives allegedly fear AI models could eventually replace established software like iOS, turning the iPhone into “a dumb brick” by comparison. The clunky, awkward and overall unconvincing first wave of dedicated AI gadgets we’ve reviewed, like the Human AI Pin and Rabbit R1, aren’t good enough to pose a threat. But that could change as software evolves, other smartphone makers incorporate more AI into their operating systems and other hardware makers have a chance to innovate.

So, at least for now, it appears Apple isn’t launching direct competitors to generative AI stalwarts like ChatGPT (words), Midjourney (images) or ElevenLabs (voices). Instead, it will start with a new Siri and updated iPhone models with expanded memory to better handle local processing. In addition, the company will reportedly add a text-summarizing feature to the Messages app.

Apple’s John Ternus standing in front of a digital slide of the M4 chip.Apple’s John Ternus standing in front of a digital slide of the M4 chip.

Apple’s M4 chip (shown next to VP John Ternus) could help process local Siri requests. (Apple)

Apple’s first foray into generative AI, if The NYT’s sources are correct, sounds like less of an immediate threat to creators than some had imagined. At its May iPad event, the company ran a video plugging the new iPad Pro that showed various creative tools crushed by a hydraulic press. The clip accidentally served as the perfect metaphor for the (legitimate) fears of artists, musicians and other creators, whose work AI models have trained on — and who stand to be replaced by those same tools as they become more normalized for content creation.

On Thursday, Apple apologized for the ad and said it canceled plans to run it on TV.

Samsung and Google have already loaded their flagship phones with various generative AI features that go far beyond improving their virtual assistants. These include tools for editing photos, generating text and enhancing transcription (among other things). These features typically rely on cloud-based servers for processing, whereas Apple’s approach will allegedly prioritize privacy and handle requests locally. So Apple will apparently start with a more streamlined approach that sticks to improving what’s already there, as well as keeping most or all processing on-device.

The New York Times’ sources add that Apple’s culture of internal secrecy and privacy-focused marketing have stunted its AI progress. Former Siri engineer John Burkey told the paper that the company’s tendency to silo off the information various divisions share with each other has been another primary culprit in Siri’s inability to evolve far past where the assistant was when it launched a day before Steve Jobs died in 2011.

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Apple Pencil Pro reportedly in the works – but keep the eraser ready on this rumor

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There’s a good chance Apple will unveil a new stylus during its Let Loose event, but recently discovered clues suggest we might see an Apple Pencil Pro. User rsuOvO on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) reportedly found multiple references to the Pro model in the code of the company’s Japanese website.

At the time of this writing, you can still find the name by heading over to the web page, and then pressing the Ctrl and U keys at the same time. Scroll to about 60 percent of the way down and you’ll find the name “Apple Pencil Pro” littered throughout.

The surrounding text is in Japanese. Since we can’t read the language, we ran the wording through Google Translate to get an idea of what it’s saying so take the following with a grain of salt. According to the machine translation, it just describes the accompanying GIF animation in detail. The text talks about how the event logo is drawn with shades of green and white before ending with a glossier version of the Apple icon. No other information about the Pencil Pro, what it might look like, or any of its features could be found.

Apple Pencil Pro name found in code

(Image credit: Future)

What’s interesting about the code is it cannot be found on the American, European, or UK versions of Apple’s website. We did find strings of text mentioning the Apple Pencil and a description of the same GIF animation, but nothing on a Pro model of any kind. As far as we know, the name doesn’t appear anywhere else.

Analysis: A possible rebranding



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Apple Reportedly Building M2 Ultra and M4-Powered AI Servers

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Apple has started building its own AI servers that use the M2 Ultra chip, Haitong analyst Jeff Pu reports.

Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri
Pu provided the analysis based on supply chain checks in a new note to investors seen by MacRumors. Foxconn is said to currently be assembling Apple AI servers that contain the ‌M2‌ Ultra, with plans to assemble AI servers powered by the M4 chip in late 2025. Last month, a reputable source on Weibo said that Apple was working on processors for its own AI servers made with TSMC’s 3nm process, targeting mass production by the second half of 2025, which may line up with this report about M4-powered AI servers.

Apple’s decision to build its own AI server is reflective of the company’s ongoing strategy to vertically integrate its supply chain. Apple will likely use its own chips to enhance the performance of its data centers and future AI tools that rely on the cloud.

While Apple is rumored to be prioritizing on-device processing for many of its upcoming AI tools, it is inevitable that some operations will have to occur in the cloud. By the time M4-based servers could be operational in data centers, Apple’s new AI strategy should be well underway.

In line with broader industry expectations, Pu also expects Apple to announce on-device AI features at WWDC in June, such as audio recording summarization, photo and video editing, and live translation. While the iPhone 16 lineup will tout a range of AI features, 2025’s iPhone 17 models will apparently be more focused AI devices.

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Samsung now reportedly has dedicated team to develop OLED panels for Apple

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It is well-known that Samsung Display makes OLED screens for various Apple products, including Apple Watches and iPhones; after all, it is the world’s biggest OLED manufacturer. The company now seems to have created a dedicated team to oversee the development of OLED panels for Apple products.

Samsung Display reportedly created an ‘A Team’ to develop OLED panels for Apple

Some reports originating from China (via OLED-Info) claim Samsung Display has created a new research and development team to develop OLED panels for Apple. This team is reportedly called the ‘A Team’ and is a part of the Giheung Research Institute in South Korea. This could be due to Samsung Display falling behind LG and some other OLED panel manufacturers from China. Recently, it was reported that LG Display has become the primary supplier of OLED panels for Apple’s upcoming iPad Pro lineup as Samsung Display was struggling with the production of the tandem structure. This may have even forced Apple to delay the launch of the iPad Pro.

Samsung Flex Note Extendable OLED Display

So, Samsung Display may be trying to get its act together and develop technologies to help it become the undisputed champion in the OLED panel segment once again. Recently, Chinese OLED firms BOE and CSOT have been releasing some competitive OLED panels for smartphones, and Chinese smartphone OEMs are buying more panels from Chinese OLED makers. Apple, too, has started buying OLED panels for iPhones from BOE.

Since Apple is expected to replace LCD screens on all its product lineups with OLED panels in the future, Samsung may be trying to improve the quality and performance of its OLED panels to win as many orders from Apple as possible. It will be interesting to see what technologies Samsung Display develops in the future and what the effect of its new team will be on its OLED panel lineup.

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Block reportedly greenlit transactions involving terrorist groups and sanctioned nations

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Block appears to be squarely in the government’s sights. Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York are reportedly probing extensive compliance lapses at the parent company of Square and Cash App. NBC News says a former Block employee has handed over documents to federal authorities, painting a picture of how the company failed to gather required risk-assessment information from customers and subsequently processed illegal transactions.

The documents allegedly show that Block greenlit multiple crypto transactions involving known terrorist organizations. Furthermore, Square reportedly processed thousands of transfers involving nations under economic sanctions. “From the ground up, everything in the compliance section was flawed,” the whistleblower allegedly told NBC News. “It is led by people who should not be in charge of a regulated compliance program.”

Most transactions allegedly involved credit cards, dollar transfers or Bitcoin and weren’t reported to the government as mandated by law. In addition, Block reportedly refused to “correct company processes” when notified of the breaches.

The investigation follows a separate report from NBC News in February highlighting two different whistleblowers who flagged the same issues at Block. They cited “questionable Cash App transactions with entities under sanction by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, operations known to sell personal information and credit card data for illegal purposes, and offshore gambling sites barred to U.S. citizens.”

The practice allegedly spanned multiple years. NBC News says it reviewed around 100 pages of documents from the whistleblower involving people or organizations in countries under US sanctions, including Russia, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba. Some of them were reportedly from as recent as 2023.

Graphic from finance company Block showing Jack Dorsey's face on a cube.Graphic from finance company Block showing Jack Dorsey's face on a cube.

Block

The whistleblower claims Block’s management was aware of the alleged offenses. “It’s my understanding from the documents that compliance lapses were known to Block leadership and the board in recent years,” Edward Siedle, a former SEC attorney representing the whistleblower, told NBC News.

The whistleblower says that, besides senior management, Block’s board was told about the compliance issues. Coincidentally or not, several board members made unexpected exits recently, including former US treasury secretary Lawrence Summers, who resigned in February, and Sharon Rothstein, who had been on the board since 2022. Block told NBC News that they were leaving to devote more time to other activities and that their exits weren’t “a result of any disagreements with the company on any matter relating to the company’s operations, policies or practices.”

Federal authorities have taken a greater interest in modern financial platforms in recent years after at least some of them had become something of a Wild West. Of course, FTX’s fraudulent practices and subsequent collapse led to a seismic decline in the cryptocurrency industry. Although it isn’t clear if the feds have gotten involved, Elon Musk’s X (the husk of what was once Dorsey’s Twitter) reportedly violated US sanctions by accepting blue-check subscription payments from terrorist organizations.

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New AI Features Reportedly Coming to Safari in iOS 18

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Safari will gain a series of AI-powered features and UI enhancements in iOS 18, AppleInsider reports.

safari icon blue banner
Safari will apparently receive a range of visual tweaks alongside several new tools to improve the browsing experience, including:

  • An “Intelligent Search” browser assistant tool that leverages Apple’s on-device AI technology to identify key topics and phrases on webpages for summarization purposes.
  • A “Web Eraser” tool that allows users to remove unwanted portions of webpages easily. Erasure is persistent, remaining even when revisiting a site unless changes are reverted.
  • A new, quick-access menu emerging from the address bar that consolidates page tools, bringing over some functions that currently sit in the Share Sheet and placing them alongside the new tools.

The iPadOS and macOS versions of Safari are also expected to align further. These new features are purportedly undergoing evaluation alongside internal builds of ‌iOS 18‌ and macOS 15 ahead of their unveiling at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) in June. Earlier this month, backend code on Apple’s servers suggested that a new Safari browsing assistant is in the works, corroborating this report.

Farther in the future, Apple is said to be working on a more powerful version of Visual Look Up that allows users to obtain information on products when browsing through images. The feature is expected to be released sometime in 2025.

Last week, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman said that ‌iOS 18‌ will “overhaul” many of Apple’s built-in apps, including Notes, Mail, Photos, and Fitness. Apple’s next-generation operating systems are almost certain to be previewed during Apple’s WWDC keynote on June 10, and the updates should be widely released in the fall.

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Nintendo Switch 2 will reportedly be larger than its predecessor and feature magnetic Joy-Con controllers

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Another day, another Nintendo Switch 2 rumor. This one, however, comes from a reliable source.

Spotted by Eurogamer, Spanish gaming publication Vandal reports that, according to various accessory manufacturers, that the Nintendo Switch 2 will feature Joy-Con controllers that magnetically connect to the console. If accurate, this would mean both the controllers and the Switch unit itself would undergo a significant change, eschewing the need for that rather awkward rail connection system.

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Apple is reportedly developing its own AI servers — could it be gearing up to take on Nvidia and AMD?

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Apple may again be partnering with silicon chip manufacturer TSMC to produce its own AI server processor, according to a leak from Chinese social network Weibo.

Yes, news of Apple’s next step into the world of artificial intelligence tools is unironically brought to you by, MacRumors reports, “the Weibo user known as ‘Phone Chip Expert’”, who suggests that the processor will be produced using TSMC’s state of the art 3 nanometer node.

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Apple Reportedly Developing Its Own Custom Silicon for AI Servers

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Apple is said to be developing its own AI server processor using TSMC’s 3nm process, targeting mass production by the second half of 2025.

Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri 1
According to a post by the Weibo user known as “Phone Chip Expert,” Apple has ambitious plans to design its own artificial intelligence server processor. The user, who claims to have 25 years of experience in the integrated circuit industry, including work on Intel’s Pentium processors, suggests this processor will be manufactured using TSMC’s ‌3nm‌ node.

TSMC is a vital partner for Apple, manufacturing all of its custom silicon chips. The chipmaker’s ‌3nm‌ technology is one of the most advanced semiconductor processes available, offering significant improvements in performance and energy efficiency over the previous 5nm and 7nm nodes.

Apple’s purported move toward developing a specialist AI server processor is reflective of the company’s ongoing strategy to vertically integrate its supply chain. By designing its own server chips, Apple can tailor hardware specifically to its software needs, potentially leading to more powerful and efficient technologies.

Apple could use its own AI processors to enhance the performance of its data centers and future AI tools that rely on the cloud. While Apple is rumored to be prioritizing on-device processing for many of its upcoming AI tools, it is inevitable that some operations will have to occur in the cloud. By the time the custom processor could be integrated into operational servers in late 2025, Apple’s new AI strategy should be well underway.

The Weibo user has a number of accurate previous claims, including that the iPhone 7 would be water-resistant and that the standard iPhone 14 models would continue using the A15 Bionic chip, with the more advanced A16 chip being exclusive to the ‌iPhone 14‌ Pro models. These predictions were later corroborated by multiple credible sources and proved correct upon the products’ release.

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The end of FineWoven? Apple reportedly stops production of the eco-friendly accessories

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It’s safe to say that Apple’s FineWoven accessories have been a disaster from the moment they launched, with people criticizing them for their perceived lack of durability and the ease with which they can get damaged. Now, it seems that Apple has decided to cut its losses, and could phase out the entire range.

That’s if a leaker who goes by the name Kosutami is to be believed, at least. Writing on X (formerly Twitter), Kosutami claimed that “FineWoven has gone,” adding that “All the production line was stopped and removed” [sic]. That presumably covers all FineWoven accessories, including iPhone cases and Apple Watch straps.



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