Rumor: Apple privately testing backport of Siri to iPhone 4
updated 08:20 pm EDT, Sat November 5, 2011
Apple claimed internally trying Siri on old iPhone
New rumors allege that Apple is working to port Siri back to the iPhone 4. Supposedly corroborating earlier rumors, AppAdvice claimed that Apple briefly let staff get a test build of iOS 5 with Siri on the older model that was pulled once the trial was done. The dry run supposedly went "really well," one tip maintained, supporting recent hacked installs that showed the iPhone 4 and fourth-generation iPod touch capable of handling the voice command system.
None of the sources knew for sure whether Apple would make Siri available even with the testing. It's considered a selling point of the iPhone 4S, and removing it would limit the main 4S advantages to the processor and camera. iPod touch owners also might not get Siri regardless, since the much smaller microphone isn't as good as picking up commands and might hurt the experience.
While strictly speculation, it's suspected that Apple might have limited Siri to the iPhone 4S not just to steer buyers to the more lucrative models but to manage the load on its servers. Apple already encounted an hours-long Siri outage this week with its admittedly beta service, but it could be under much more strain if it included the dozens of millions of existing iPhone 4 owners.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 2008
So they are going to upgrade all the iPhone 4 mics
Because that's what's needed for siri to work well.