Apple’s new A20 Pro chip could help Siri AI move closer to the experience promised at WWDC. The processor powers both the iPhone 18 Pro and foldable iPhone Duo, with major upgrades focused on artificial intelligence.
Siri AI has undergone beta testing since its June debut. Apple plans to make it publicly available across supported platforms before the end of September. However, the assistant itself will remain in beta as Apple continues improving its performance.
A20 Pro Delivers More AI Power
Siri AI will support the iPhone 15 Pro and newer models. However, the report argues that newer hardware should deliver better performance.
The A20 Pro includes six CPU cores and seven GPU cores. More importantly, it offers two upgrades that could directly benefit on-device AI processing.
First, Apple increased memory bandwidth by 50% compared with the A19 Pro. That improvement could reduce a key bottleneck for on-device language models. As a result, Siri AI may process demanding requests more efficiently.
Second, Apple doubled the chip’s AI processing capability. The A20 Pro features two 16-core Neural Engines, compared with one Neural Engine block in its predecessor.
Faster Processing Could Improve Siri
Together, these improvements allow the A20 Pro to handle more AI tasks directly on the iPhone. Therefore, Siri may rely less on cloud processing for supported operations.
The report says this extra computing power could produce faster, lower-latency responses. It could also improve tasks ranging from systemwide dictation to Siri’s more expressive voices.
Still, faster hardware alone does not guarantee a perfect assistant.
Siri AI Still Has Work Ahead
The source’s beta testing found Siri AI significantly better than the previous Siri. Its ability to work across apps and understand on-screen context also showed promise. However, the tester found that it sometimes failed at relatively simple requests, including tasks it had completed successfully before.
That inconsistency helps explain why Apple is keeping Siri AI in beta. Meanwhile, greater on-device processing could give Apple more room to improve future features.
For now, the A20 Pro represents an important hardware step. Whether it can transform Siri AI into a consistently useful assistant will depend on how effectively Apple uses that additional power.
