Apple has one move that could make you want its phones even more

Even if you’re unbothered by the development of AI, you’ve heard that Apple is in trouble because of Apple Intelligence. The company promised it would release a smarter and more personalized version of Siri when it launched the iPhone 16 series, but about a year and a half later, we are still waiting for it to arrive.During this time, Apple announced an AI partnership with Google, and we’ve heard rumors that it plans to turn Siri into a chatbot to compete with Gemini, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Anthropic’s Claude. Looking at the numbers of a recent poll among PhoneArena readers, it appears that move could turn one of the most embarrassing blunders in the company’s recent history into an opportunity for a spectacular comeback.

Chatbots are very popular

It may look premature to discuss a non-existent feature, but the results of a recent PhoneArena poll demonstrated that Apple could be on the right path with its Siri plans. In fact, the love you show for chatbots is so strong that a smarter chatbot-style Siri could turn into one of the strongest selling points for the iPhone 18 series.
Of the over 800 readers who have shared their feelings about using chatbots, only 10% say they never use them because they don’t trust AI. An additional 9% said they are not using chatbots regularly because they’re not all that useful.

The vast majority, or over 47% of the respondents, say they use chatbots all the time. In fact, for those people, chatting with AI is a daily habit. Another 20% of the respondents are using chatbots often in their work, and close to 14% say that they use chatbots only for fun. All in all, that’s about 80% of the respondents who have chatbots in their lives.

An opportunity for Apple

Genmoji is not exactly the AI revolution Apple users hoped for. | Image by PhoneArena

There’s a disparity between what sort of AI people apparently use and what smartphone companies offer with their devices. Currently, Apple Intelligence is mostly a glorified spellchecker and an enhancement to features that have existed for years. Live Translation, Photos’ Clean Up tool, and Visual Intelligence are nothing new.Chatbots, on the other hand, are still a relatively new development and still feel fresh. If Apple integrates a Gemini-powered chatbot deeply into iOS, giving it access to everything on your device, that could be an entirely new way to interact with your iPhone. Considering how many people are already into chatbots, the idea of chatting with your settings, emails, and texts could be a winner.

If you need proof of how popular that concept could be, just remember how fast OpenClaw became popular enough for its creator to get hired by OpenAI. The AI-powered autonomous agent combines access to various apps with an instant messaging interface that people seemed to love. Make that concept as easy to use as any other Apple app and put some guardrails in place so as not to break things, and you may have the elusive next big thing in tech.

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Ilia, a tech journalist at PhoneArena, has been covering the mobile industry since 2011, with experience at outlets like Forbes Bulgaria. Passionate about smartphones, tablets, and consumer tech, he blends deep industry knowledge with a personal fascination that began with his first Nokia and Sony Ericsson devices. Originally from Bulgaria and now based in Lima, Peru, Ilia balances his tech obsessions with walking his dog, training at the gym, and slowly mastering Spanish.

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