All eyes were on Apple on Monday as it sought to answer the question that has plagued the company since 2024: Can it finally deliver on the future it promised?
At the 2026 Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, the iPhone maker unveiled Siri AI, the much-anticipated overhaul of its voice assistant powered by a new generation of Apple Intelligence models developed in partnership with Google. We also announced a set of new AI capabilities across our ecosystem.
The stakes are high for Apple. The company has faced criticism and class action lawsuits over the past two years after many Apple Intelligence features it previewed in 2024 were delayed or failed to deliver as originally promised.
Here’s what the smartest people in business and technology are saying about Apple’s flurry of announcements.
Gene Munster, Apple Analyst and Managing Partner of Deepwater Asset Management
Gene Munster said Apple’s move will be successful if it accomplishes everything it showed in the demo. Brian Ach/Getty Images for LocationWorld 2016
Gene Munster wrote in a post on X that Monday’s move will be a success for Apple if it accomplishes everything shown in the demo.
“Remember, this is still a demo. They overpromised the demo two years ago,” Munster wrote. “However, if they can deliver what they showed today, hardware sales will increase.”
“You can go beyond one-shot prompts and reference previous conversations. We felt this example was 10 times better than using ChatGPT for personal tasks,” Munster added.
In a subsequent tweet, Munster wrote that Apple was being “aggressive” about new child safety tools, calling it “a smart move as these small features strengthen the grip on keeping parents in the Apple ecosystem.”
Christina Warren, Director of Developer Relations, GitHub
Warren wrote in X that Apple’s AI strategy reflects the growing industry reality that smartphones are not powerful enough to run cutting-edge AI models entirely on-device.
“As I expected, Apple is going to move away from the ‘on-device’ talk about Apple Intelligence and move forward with the ‘private cloud computing’ talk for the models they actually want to use,” Warren said on Monday.
“While we’re glad on-device isn’t being phased out, it’s clear that a hybrid approach is absolutely necessary,” Warren added. “In the future, there will be enough processing on the device for certain tasks, but that day is not today.”
Ben Bajarin, CEO and Principal Analyst at Creative Strategies
Bajarin said it appears Apple is trying to turn Siri into a central hub for a one-stop AI experience rather than a collection of separate tools.
“While we’re talking about the enterprise workflow control plane, Apple’s opportunity here is that Siri is turning into the control plane for consumer AI,” Bajarin wrote in Monday’s X.
“Personal context, screen awareness, app actions, writing, search, and visual intelligence go through one assistant layer, all coming together into a different product experience,” Bajarin added.
Max Weinbach, Consumer Technology Analyst at Creative Strategies
Weinbach wrote on Monday that the Siri upgrade could be bad news for AI companies looking to develop consumer products.
“If the new Siri and AI features are so good that Apple can provide them for free on every new Apple device, then everyone should be afraid of what will happen to AI companies,” Weinbach said on X.
“Siri AI is essentially what most consumers use ChatGPT and Gemini for,” Weinbach added in a follow-up post. “Rest in peace for consumer ambitions for AI companies.”
Alex Heath, technology journalist
In a series of posts on X, Alex Heath said Apple is aiming to do the same thing as the AI giants. HumanX Conference Big Event Media/Getty Images
In a series of tweets, Heath said that Apple is aiming for exactly what the AI giant aspires to be: a “hyper-personalized, omniscient assistant.”
“What Apple is showing – that Siri understands what’s on your iPhone’s screen and provides contextual responses – is a major unlock if it works as shown,” Heath wrote in Monday’s X.
“It also shows how Apple continues to leverage platform controls to do things that people at the app layer can’t do,” Heath added.
Heath previously served as a senior reporter at Business Insider.
Ernest Wong, Head of Research, Baskin Wealth Management
Apple’s long rollout of new child safety features is a “perfect example” of “strategic trust,” meaning a simple decision that improves the company’s image compared to other competitors, Wong said.
“It’s an easy decision for Apple to simultaneously draw kids and teens into its ecosystem and handicap its competitors (social media apps), and look good while doing it,” Wong wrote about X.
Chris Pirillo, LockerGnome Founder
Chris Pirillo said Apple’s AI could enable the creation of automation similar to vibecoding. Kimberly White/Getty Images for Disney
Pirillo said Apple’s AI could make creating automation as easy as writing the desired outcome, similar to vibecoding.
“Guys, this is basically vibe coding. On a macro level,” Pirillo wrote about X.
Joanna Stern, NBC Chief Technology Analyst
Joanna Stern said she hopes to see significant internal improvements to Apple’s child safety features. Joy Malone/Getty Images
In a series of posts about X, Stern said that she used to “hate Apple shortcuts,” but that AI updates could drastically change her perception.
In a subsequent post about Apple’s child safety updates, Stern added, “I’m glad Apple is finally showing some interest in parental controls. But parents don’t just need more controls. They need the controls to actually work.” “We hope to see significant internal improvements focused on synchronization, reliability, and consistency across devices.”
Dan Ives, Technology Analyst, Wedbush Securities
Ives said in a Monday memo that Apple is finally delivering on its promise made two years ago with a “robust AI strategy and announcement of Siri AI.”
“Overall, this was an impressive event that didn’t disappoint. After years of promise, Cook and Apple have finally announced an AI strategy that will unlock true AI monetization opportunities for Cupertino’s consumer ecosystem…now, it’s finally here,” he wrote.