Today marks the 15th anniversary of the iPhone 4S launch, which introduced Siri as a built-in iPhone feature for the first time. The device went on sale on October 14, 2011, ten days after its announcement and initially launched in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom.
Siri on the iPhone 4S
Siri was the defining addition to the iPhone 4S, enabling users to make calls, send messages, create reminders, schedule appointments and ask questions using natural language. Apple highlighted Siri’s ability to interpret requests in context, for example understanding that a question about needing an umbrella was a request for the weather forecast. Siri initially launched in beta, supporting English localized for the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, as well as French and German. The assistant was exclusive to the iPhone 4S, so owners of older iPhones could not access it simply by installing iOS 5.
Siri had previously existed as a standalone iPhone app that launched in February 2010; Apple acquired the company in April 2010 and later integrated its technology into iOS. After the iPhone 4S announcement Apple removed the original app from the App Store and informed existing users that its service would stop working on October 15.
iPhone 4S hardware and software upgrades
Beyond Siri, the iPhone 4S retained the iPhone 4’s glass and stainless steel design while introducing substantial internal improvements. It shipped with Apple’s dual-core A5 chip, which Apple said delivered up to twice the CPU performance and seven times the graphics performance of the iPhone 4. The rear camera was upgraded from five to eight megapixels with an f/2.4 aperture and added support for 1080p video recording.
A revised antenna system could switch between antennas for transmitting and receiving, and maximum supported HSDPA download speeds doubled to 14.4 Mbps. The iPhone 4S shipped with iOS 5, which had become available two days earlier alongside iCloud; iOS 5 introduced iMessage, Notification Center, Reminders, wireless software updates and on-device setup.
The iPhone 4S was offered in black and white and in 16GB, 32GB and a new 64GB configuration. U.S. prices started at $199, $299 and $399 respectively with a qualifying two-year carrier contract. Apple announced that it had sold more than four million units during the device’s first three days of availability, more than double the iPhone 4’s opening sales over the same period.
