Three weeks ago, rumors emerged that Apple could bring Siri to the desktop in the next OS X and now it looks like that rumor will be realized. On Tuesday, Intel announced a new partnership with Sensory to develop speech recognition features for its system-on-chips (SoC). The new chips will bring customized low-power voice recognition to any Intel-powered laptop , including Apple’s Macbooks.
Apple has reportedly been testing versions of OS X with Siri integration internally for over three years, but until now, hadn’t been fully satisfied with the outcomes. While always-on digital assistants like “ Hey Siri ” and “OK Google” certainly will be attractive to users, Apple has been slow to add the feature due to the rapid battery drain that always-on assistants cause, due to conflict with the device’s sleep function.
But with Intel’s latest chip, Apple may finally be able to pull off an energy efficient always-on assistant that would be available whenever the computer has the charger attached. Additionally, 9-to-5 Mac sources report that the new feature will reside in the menu bar as an icon in the same way the spotlight search can be accessed by clicking on the magnifying glass icon. Clicking on the new Siri icon will activate the digital assistant allowing it to take voice requests just like holding down the home button on the iPhone does. The new feature will also reportedly come with its own System Preferences pane, allowing users to create a custom keyboard shortcut for activating Siri.
The new Siri feature is rumored to release at Apple’s WWDC 2016 in June.
