Despite having the same A9X & M9 chips, only the 9.7" iPad Pro has always-on 'Hey Siri'

AppleInsider · March 22, 2016 7:58PM

In a continuing curious omission, every device that runs Apple's M9 motion coprocessor features support for always-listening "Hey Siri" -- except for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.

Apple on Monday took the wraps off of a new 9.7-inch iPad Pro and the iPhone SE, both of which feature A9-series processors and the M9 coprocessor, and both of which support "Hey Siri" when running on battery power alone.

"Hey Siri" was first introduced last year with the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. It's made possible by the special low-power processing of the M9, which allows "Hey Siri" voice controls can be invoked without touching the device or plugging it in.

Curiously, however, Apple's larger 12.9-inch iPad Pro does not support always-on "Hey Siri" voice controls, even though it too has the M9 chip. The jumbo-sized tablet only responds to "Hey Siri" commands when it is plugged into a power source.

It's unknown why Apple hasn't added always-on "Hey Siri" support for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. The company says that the M9 is the core of the feature, so technically it should be possible. However, as of iOS 9.3, Apple notes in the Settings app that the feature requires that the iPad Pro be connected to power.

Beyond the iPhone 6s series, iPhone SE and 9.7-inch iPad Pro, "Hey Siri" can also be used with the Apple Watch, but users must first raise their wrist to activate the screen before speaking.

pmz · March 22, 2016 8:00PM

I have to say, that this really pisses me, as an iPad Pro owner.

rogifan_new · March 22, 2016 8:01PM

sog35 said:

battery life.

Doesn't the 12.9 iPad Pro have the the biggest battery?

saarek · March 22, 2016 8:14PM

sog35 said:

pmz said:

I have to say, that this really pisses me, as an iPad Pro owner.

why? It didn't piss you off before. Seems like you didn't miss HeySiri before.

The 9.7 Pro is 4 months newer than the 12.9. Of course it will have some features that the older Pro does not.

Give me a break. Go show me a post where you said you wanted this feature BEFORE yesterday. You are only grumbling now.

Here Sir is our deluxe top of the line model, by the way it doesn't support these features that the far cheaper products do even though it has the capacity to do so.

Of course people are going to pissed off.

rogifan_new · March 22, 2016 8:21PM

sog35 said:

rogifan_new said:

Doesn't the 12.9 iPad Pro have the the biggest battery?

Yes, but its powering a bigger screen with more pixels.

Apple does not make these decisions randomly. Jesus Christ, some of you are just flat out pathetic. You really think you could run a $600 billion company better than Apple's current executives. If so go start your own company and compete with Apple.

Amazing how your tone changes when the stock is on the upswing. If Apple was at $90 instead of $107 you'd be calling for Tim Cook's head on a platter and blasting these decisions.

derrickdoingit · March 22, 2016 8:41PM

sog35 said:

rogifan_new said:

Amazing how your tone changes when the stock is on the upswing. If Apple was at $90 instead of $107 you'd be calling for Tim Cook's head on a platter and blasting these decisions.

I blasted Cook for not releasing the bigger iPhone earlier.
I also blasted him for not addressing supplier chain rumors.

I see no reason to blast him about an older model not having every single feature a newer model has. Tech keeps going forward. Face it. The 12.9 Pro is FOUR MONTHS older than the 9.7.

And you think I'm happy with the $107 stock price? Hell no. I still think the stock is 40-50% undervalued.

So purposely making a product inferior so that a future product has a distinguishable feature is ok because...?

rogifan_new · March 22, 2016 8:50PM

sog35 said:

derrickdoingit said:

So purposely making a product inferior so that a future product has a distinguishable feature is ok because...?

Does the iPhone6 have more features than an iPhone5s?

of course the newer product has more features.

What planet do you live on.

The 12.9 Pro is FOUR MONTHS OLD. Deal with it. And always Siri is such a small feature anyway. Can't beleive all the crybabies on this site. You all should go to MacRumors and you will fit right in.

But both sizes have the same M9 co-processor. Makes no sense that one would support hey Siri and the other not.

nolamacguy · March 22, 2016 8:51PM

derrickdoingit said:

sog35 said:

I blasted Cook for not releasing the bigger iPhone earlier.
I also blasted him for not addressing supplier chain rumors.

I see no reason to blast him about an older model not having every single feature a newer model has. Tech keeps going forward. Face it. The 12.9 Pro is FOUR MONTHS older than the 9.7.

And you think I'm happy with the $107 stock price? Hell no. I still think the stock is 40-50% undervalued.

So purposely making a product inferior so that a future product has a distinguishable feature is ok because...?

wait -- you have absolutely no f'in idea if Apple intentionally gimped it for some mustache-twirling nefarious reason. frankly that's absurd. the fact is, you don't work on the engineering team and have no idea what types of decisions they have to make to produce these devices. none.

rogifan_new · March 22, 2016 8:54PM

sog35 said:

rogifan_new said:

Amazing how your tone changes when the stock is on the upswing. If Apple was at $90 instead of $107 you'd be calling for Tim Cook's head on a platter and blasting these decisions.

I blasted Cook for not releasing the bigger iPhone earlier.
I also blasted him for not addressing supplier chain rumors.

I see no reason to blast him about an older model not having every single feature a newer model has. Tech keeps going forward. Face it. The 12.9 Pro is FOUR MONTHS older than the 9.7.

And you think I'm happy with the $107 stock price? Hell no. I still think the stock is 40-50% undervalued.

Yeah and one day you blast him for 16GB devices, the next you're defending him over skimping out on RAM. Some of these decisions are not defensible. They're not product based they're financially based. And for what? Because Luca needs margins to be 40% instead if 39.5%?

mjtomlin · March 22, 2016 9:01PM

rogifan_new said:

sog35 said:

Does the iPhone6 have more features than an iPhone5s?

of course the newer product has more features.

What planet do you live on.

The 12.9 Pro is FOUR MONTHS OLD. Deal with it. And always Siri is such a small feature anyway. Can't beleive all the crybabies on this site. You all should go to MacRumors and you will fit right in.

But both sizes have the same M9 co-processor. Makes no sense that one would support hey Siri and the other not.

And you know this for sure because you know all the engineering involved with making it work? There may be something else required in order to make it work properly and/or efficiently. When Apple designed the original "Pro" maybe it simply came down to them not thinking it was really necessary in an iPad? And when they designed this NEWER model, they decided to add the feature.

The M9 coprocessor is an extremely low power unit that monitors input from various sensors - it would stand to reason those sensors would need to be directly linked to the M9. If the mic in the 12.9" Pro is not tied to the M9, then "Hey Siri" obviously will not work. Now, I'm only guessing all of this, because I don't really know either, but it makes sense.

mjtomlin · March 22, 2016 9:07PM

derrickdoingit said:

sog35 said:

I blasted Cook for not releasing the bigger iPhone earlier.
I also blasted him for not addressing supplier chain rumors.

I see no reason to blast him about an older model not having every single feature a newer model has. Tech keeps going forward. Face it. The 12.9 Pro is FOUR MONTHS older than the 9.7.

And you think I'm happy with the $107 stock price? Hell no. I still think the stock is 40-50% undervalued.

So purposely making a product inferior so that a future product has a distinguishable feature is ok because...?

Umm that's a stupid assumption to make considering the larger iPad is still on the shelves and simply flipping a software switch to add additional and desirable features could in fact increase sales now.

bobschlob · March 22, 2016 9:09PM

More pissed about no 3-d touch on the "NEW" iPhone.
Guess Apple will have to make a brand new 3-d touch commercial with Aubrey: "I'm peeking my flight. I'm not peeking my flight. I'm peeking my... wait, my brand new iPhone doesn't do that..."

stsk · March 22, 2016 9:15PM

I suspect it's a product liability concern. They're concerned about the added weight of throwing the larger device across the room out of frustration with that bitch Siri.

redraider11 · March 22, 2016 9:23PM

mjtomlin said:

rogifan_new said:

But both sizes have the same M9 co-processor. Makes no sense that one would support hey Siri and the other not.

And you know this for sure because you know all the engineering involved with making it work? There may be something else required in order to make it work properly and/or efficiently. When Apple designed the original "Pro" maybe it simply came down to them not thinking it was really necessary in an iPad? And when they designed this NEWER model, they decided to add the feature.

The M9 coprocessor is an extremely low power unit that monitors input from various sensors - it would stand to reason those sensors would need to be directly linked to the M9. If the mic in the 12.9" Pro is not tied to the M9, then "Hey Siri" obviously will not work. Now, I'm only guessing all of this, because I don't really know either, but it makes sense.

My Apple Watch supports always on "Hey Siri." I'm not going to say it makes no sense because I wasn't involved in the design of the product, but it does beg the question why the bigger, more powerful, NEWER iPad Pro does not.

mjtomlin · March 22, 2016 9:44PM

redraider11 said:

mjtomlin said:

And you know this for sure because you know all the engineering involved with making it work? There may be something else required in order to make it work properly and/or efficiently. When Apple designed the original "Pro" maybe it simply came down to them not thinking it was really necessary in an iPad? And when they designed this NEWER model, they decided to add the feature.

The M9 coprocessor is an extremely low power unit that monitors input from various sensors - it would stand to reason those sensors would need to be directly linked to the M9. If the mic in the 12.9" Pro is not tied to the M9, then "Hey Siri" obviously will not work. Now, I'm only guessing all of this, because I don't really know either, but it makes sense.

My Apple Watch supports always on "Hey Siri." I'm not going to say it makes no sense because I wasn't involved in the design of the product, but it does beg the question why the bigger, more powerful, NEWER iPad Pro does not.

And I gave a plausible explanation why it's not on the NEWER 12.9" iPad Pro - When Apple designed that iPad, they simply decided "Hey Siri" wasn't a beneficial feature to have on an iPad.

But here's a couple more...

1. The iPad Pro was designed before the feature was considered or engineered.
2. "Hey Siri" was a completely new feature and they wanted a "limited" release.
3. The A9X SoC provided a design challenge that kept them from making the feature available in time for the Pro's release.

pmz · March 22, 2016 9:52PM

sog35 said:

pmz said:

I have to say, that this really pisses me, as an iPad Pro owner.

why? It didn't piss you off before.

Yeah actually it did.

pmz · March 22, 2016 9:53PM

sog35 said:

saarek said:

Here Sir is our deluxe top of the line model, by the way it doesn't support these features that the far cheaper products do even though it has the capacity to do so.

Of course people are going to pissed off.

Just stop it.

The 12.9 Pro came out FOUR MONTHS AGO. Of course newer versions will have added features.

You have no idea what the trade-offs for allowing the 12.9 to have always on Siri. In fact it may just be a software issue and the 12.9 will get it latter.

Did people buy the 12.9 Pro with the guarantee that latter versions (even cheaper models) would NOT get additional features? Really? Is that what you want? Are you serious? Again the Pro is FOUR MONTHS OLD. You can't expect newer versions to not get small additions.

You are a fucking delusional mess. Always-on Hey Siri debuted in the fucking iPhone 6s, before the iPad Pro was released. The iPad Pro contains everything necessary for always-on Hey Siri. Then its counterpart version 4 months later sports the same hardware, and includes the feature.

pmz · March 22, 2016 9:59PM

mjtomlin said:
But here's a couple more...

1. The iPad Pro was designed before the feature was considered or engineered.
2. "Hey Siri" was a completely new feature and they wanted a "limited" release.
3. The A9X SoC provided a design challenge that kept them from making the feature available in time for the Pro's release.

That's all bullshit. The new 9.7" iPad Pro has the exact, EXACT, same fucking hardware. There is no excuse.

bluefire1 · March 22, 2016 10:24PM

The larger iPad Pro only responds to "Hey Tim".

mjtomlin · March 22, 2016 10:35PM

pmz said:

mjtomlin said:
But here's a couple more...

1. The iPad Pro was designed before the feature was considered or engineered.
2. "Hey Siri" was a completely new feature and they wanted a "limited" release.
3. The A9X SoC provided a design challenge that kept them from making the feature available in time for the Pro's release.

That's all bullshit. The new 9.7" iPad Pro has the exact, EXACT, same fucking hardware. There is no excuse.

I'm pretty sure it does not have the exact same hardware... the motherboard is different, the video controller is different, the Lightning interface is different. And guess what!? The microphones might even be different!!!

The point of Apple's Motion processors is to monitor and process input from various sensors. In order for this to work efficiently the Motion processor would need a direct path to those sensors, so the main CPU can be completely bypassed. If for some reason Apple did not engineer the original iPad Pro so that the microphone had a direct path to the M9 and instead that data could only be accessed through the main CPU, then always on "Hey Siri" would not be possible. Having the main CPU constantly monitor and process audio input would eat through your battery charge - which is why every other device requires itself to be plugged in before enabling "Hey Siri".

LOL And you're calling other people delusional? You're the one who seems to be emotional beyond rational.

john.b · March 22, 2016 11:59PM

This is the kind of arbitrary, capricious decision making at Apple that drives people crazy. Worst case, this oversight could've been addressed with 9.3.

mjtomlin said:

I'm pretty sure it does not have the exact same hardware... the motherboard is different, the video controller is different, the Lightning interface is different. And guess what!? The microphones might even be different!!!

The point of Apple's Motion processors is to monitor and process input from various sensors. In order for this to work efficiently the Motion processor would need a direct path to those sensors, so the main CPU can be completely bypassed. If for some reason Apple did not engineer the original iPad Pro so that the microphone had a direct path to the M9 and instead that data could only be accessed through the main CPU, then always on "Hey Siri" would not be possible. Having the main CPU constantly monitor and process audio input would eat through your battery charge - which is why every other device requires itself to be plugged in before enabling "Hey Siri".

LOL And you're calling other people delusional? You're the one who seems to be emotional beyond rational.

You do know the M9 motion processors are built-in to both the A9 and A9X, right?

That there is no special fab for some sort of fictional "Hey Siri" high-speed-bus-to-the-microphones on every A9X except the one for the large iPad Pro?

You made up all of the above (bolded), as if you had the first clue what you were talking about, then you have the gall to call other people "beyond rational"? Dude, you are a real piece of work.

Despite having the same A9X & M9 chips, only the 9.7" iPad Pro has always-on 'Hey Siri'

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