Denon just casually added Siri to its Home smart speakers and we’re not sure why

‘Hey Siri, does Denon know something we don’t?’

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

It may be only Tuesday (May 14) but it’s already been a big week for virtual voice assistants, withOpenAIunveiling serious sentient conversational skills withGPT-4 Omni (or GPT-4o for short)andNothing winning the ChatGPT earbuds race.

And now, Denon has just quietly affixed more talking tech to its 2020SonosOne-rivalDenon Home 150, as well as itsDecember 2019 Denon 250 and Denon 350 wireless speakersandDenon Home Soundbar 550. Which virtual voice variant has it added? Er… Siri. And surely, that suggests Denon knows something we don’t.

To clarify: Siri is not in a good place right now. TechRadar has not been backwards about coming forwards on this, with our own senior news editor,Mark Wilson, writing “Siri is truly terrible” back in March. And despite his optimism about its rumorediOS 18reboot (due September 2024), he’s not alone; I also lamented that while a hotly-anticipated HomePod with touchscreen would be lovely,Apple’s design language has never been the issue –it’s next-gen Siri we chiefly need.

Siri was largely ignored at Apple’s lastWWDC2023 event, aside from a shortening of the wake-up phrase from ‘Hey Siri’ to ‘Siri’, leading us to think thatApple simply no longer cares about Siri. In truth, we’ve been moaning for over a year now thatSiri is being left behind – and Apple knows it.

Denon, is Siri about to get really good?

On the face of it, Denon’s decision to quietly add support for Siri is hardly reason to suggest the New Jersey audio specialist is leveling up its offering to compete with thebest smart speakersin the business.

But perhaps Denon knows more than it’s letting on aboutSiri in iOS 18’s rumored conversational skills, announced two days ago – especially with Apple’sWWDC 2024event now set for June 10-14.

Although WWDC is the stageTim Cook’s behemoth typically uses to shine a spotlight on incoming software updates and Apple’s enviable lineup of gadgetry, we’re only expectingiOS 18’sdeveloperbeta to launch on June 10 (so very few people will actually get to use it over the summer). The public beta usually arrives around a month or so later – and the iOS 18 public release should roll out in mid September.

Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.

Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.

So, is Siri about to get really good? Signs are actually promising. In early April, Apple researchers unveiledan AI breakthrough that could make Siri much smarter. The paper (entitled’ReALM: Reference Resolution As Language Modeling') contains info from the Cupertino giant on how Apple’s own AI system could consider both what’s on your device’s screenandthe tasks you’re performing in the foreground and the background, as response stimuli to better understand your queries.

Denon’s Home speaker lineup doesn’t include large screens, but the device you use to control them (via the Denon Heos app) almost certainly does. And considering Denon’s Home speakers already offer Alexa built-in andGoogleAssistant (although that’s another story, withGoogle Geminieffectively replacing it – see alsoGoogle’s original virtual helper ditching 17 featuresin January), the company must have a very good reason for casually adding Siri. Maybe even two good reasons…

You may also like

Becky became Audio Editor at TechRadar in 2024, but joined the team in 2022 as Senior Staff Writer, focusing on all things hi-fi. Before this, she spent three years at What Hi-Fi? testing and reviewing everything from wallet-friendly wireless earbuds to huge high-end sound systems. Prior to gaining her MA in Journalism in 2018, Becky freelanced as an arts critic alongside a 22-year career as a professional dancer and aerialist – any love of dance starts with a love of music. Becky has previously contributed to Stuff, FourFourTwo and The Stage. When not writing, she can still be found throwing shapes in a dance studio, these days with varying degrees of success.

The most mind-blowing portable speaker of 2024 is now cheaper, and finally coming to the UK too

The Bose QuietComfort Headphones fall back to their lowest-ever price at Amazon

Forget the 6,000mAh OnePlus 13 – we could see a OnePlus phone with a 7,000mAh battery