Can iOS 15 fix the iPhone's most serious problem?

How bad is Siri? Well, to be honest, Apple's digital assistant is so bad that it is making this writer consider a return to Android depending on the specs of the unannounced and rumored Pixel 6 Pro. One problem is that Siri seems to know less about Apple products than Google does.

Ask Siri for the release date of the iPhone 4s and her reply is "Everything you need to know about Apple products is at Apple's website." Ask Google Assistant the same question and the response is "October 14, 2011" with a picture of the phone included. This is really unacceptable, or at least it should be, especially since it seems as though Siri has a problem understanding queries and tasks.

For some reason, Google has been slow to take advantage of the huge differentiation in digital assistant capabilities, especially with most tests over the last few years showing that Google has the advantage in comprehending questions and tasks, while also leading the way in providing correct responses. Perhaps Google feels that most smartphone users really don't use their digital assistant, but that would be a mistake on its part.

Apple is adding some improvements to Siri in iOS 15. According to Tom's Guide, Siri is getting much faster in iOS 15, especially on iPhone models that are powered by the A12 Bionic chipset or later. In iOS 15, your vocal requests to Siri will be processed on your device using Apple's Neural Engine.

In iOS 15, Siri will be able to go from task to task to task instantly. For example, you can have the assistant set alarms, send text messages, open an app, and have it done all in succession. It also will be a little smarter.

For example, let's say you know several people with the first name Mortimer, if you ask Siri to send a text to Mortimer, it will know which one you speak to the most and by default, use that Mortimer's contact info. And Siri will be able to share things using your contacts list. For example, if you have a photo on your display or a news story on Safari, you can say send this to Janis, and Siri will automatically set up a message with the aforementioned photo or news story attached.

A very useful feature coming to Siri that Google Assistant offers is the ability to ask more questions about someone without having to keep repeating his name. For example, you could ask, "How many Gold records does Sir Paul McCartney have?" and follow that up immediately by simply asking, "how many of those Gold records did he receive as a solo artist?" without having to repeat his name.

Siri will also be able to announce your notifications and more in iOS 15. And while all of these improvements sound great, we'd love to see improvements in Siri's responses while having the wax sucked out of her ears. Actually, we'd love to see Siri be more like Google Assistant. 

The digital assistant debuted with the iPhone 4s in October 2011 approximately a year and a half after Apple purchased Siri. The digital assistant was first released as an iOS app in February 2010, two months before its acquisition by Apple and was given the Siri name by co-founder Dag Kittlause after a co-worker he knew in Norway. In Norwegian the name means "beautiful woman who leads you to victory."

Besides Siri and Google Assistant, other digital assistants include Amazon's Alexa, Samsung's Bixby and Microsoft's failed Cortana. Speaking of Bixby, there is speculation that Samsung is going to replace Bixby with a 3D animated assistant named Sam.