[rchaud]

In management accounting, everything has a cost that has to be quantified, regardless of whether it's a standalone product or part of a HW/SW bundle. At the most basic levels, you have revenue centers (iPhone unit, iCloud unit), and cost centers (Apple Maps unit, customer support unit). All of these have operating costs.

The only way Siri does not lose Apple money is if there would be materially fewer iPhones sold if Siri was eliminated. In other words, if Siri is not a product differentiator, it's likely losing money (in the management accounting sense).

[criddell]

If you removed Siri, it would serious limit what you can do in CarPlay and you would also lose voice dictation. I think there would be materially fewer iPhones sold.

[microtherion]

Agree about CarPlay. Siri is also pretty much indispensable for HomePods, though that's probably a minor product for Apple, and it plays an important role in AirPods.

[pifm_guy]

Although if apple didn't have Siri, then they would likely allow other voice assistants on the platform, and you'd have 'dictation by alexa' instead.