01:50 PM EDT, 09/27/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Apple ( AAPL ) likely has a "very significant" monetization opportunity in the coming years by integrating an improved, artificial intelligence-powered Siri virtual voice assistant into various apps, BofA Securities said Friday.

Of all the various potential monetization avenues the iPhone maker has from its recently unveiled Apple Intelligence AI technology, a deeper Siri integration with apps is "the most overlooked and has the potential to become very significant over time," BofA analyst Wamsi Mohan said in a note to clients.

A deep Siri integration has the potential to drive $3 billion in 2026 revenue, likely increasing to roughly $50 billion in 2036, the analyst said. "We believe the potential (revenue) could be worth $15 for the stock," Mohan wrote. "Some of the (revenue) could be cannibalistic to current sources, but mostly incremental, however this would be a new source of advertising-based monetization for Apple ( AAPL )."

With the help of Apple Intelligence, Siri would be able to recommend the most relevant apps to a user, potentially opening up an opportunity where apps compete for business, according to the note.

"For Apple ( AAPL ), we believe the auction-based opportunity will not truly take hold until (the end of 2026), at which time we believe Siri will be sophisticated enough to handle the tasks presented by the users, as well as enough users within Apple Intelligence to begin to monetize," Mohan wrote.

By then, the company would utilize Siri as a virtual assistant that's capable of performing various tasks for the user such as ordering dinner, the analyst said. "In a way, Siri already can do relatively basic tasks like these but utilizing AI, Siri could have the potential to perform multi-step tasks."

The first "tasks" Siri would be integrated with are likely to be related to food, travel, and business, and could include ordering meals via Uber Technologies ( UBER ) and DoorDash ( DASH ) , BofA said.

The brokerage maintained its buy rating and a $256 price objective on the Apple ( AAPL ) stock.

Price: 228.09, Change: +0.57, Percent Change: +0.25