Audience is a technology company that makes advanced voice and audio processing chips for mobile phones. Its products reduce background noise which makes talking on the phone pleasurable and using voice commands possible. Audience worked with HTC to put the A1026 processor in the Nexus One, and helped Apple integrate its chip into the iPhone 4. A recent S-1 form filed with the SEC for Audience’s upcoming IPO revealed a version of this audio technology also made its way into the iPhone 4S.
Instead of a dedicated chip like the iPhone 4, Apple is licensing Audience’s audio technology and embedding it directly into the iPhone 4S’ A5 chipset. Audience’s latest earSmart technology used in the A5 is newer than the background noise processing found in the iPhone 4. The improved audio hardware found in the iPhone 4S may be the reason Siri is a 4S-only product.
Siri is often advertised as a hands-free solution you can use at any time, even when your phone is sitting on your desk. Trying to reduce background noise over a long distance like this isn’t easy and Siri may need the advanced audio processing found in the iPhone 4S. In other words, the iPhone 4 doesn’t have the hardware to handle the noise reduction Apple’s version of Siri requires. Though developers may be able to hack Siri onto older devices, the hardware differences between the iPhone 4 and the 4S may stop Apple from officially releasing the voice assistant on its older devices.
[Ars Technica and EE Times]