Apple expands Siri support to 9 new countries, CarPlay to 6 regions

As part of its iOS 8.3 rollout on Wednesday, Apple flipped the switch on various Siri features in nine new countries, while adding CarPlay capabilities in select locales.

Revealed in an update to Apple's iOS 8 Feature Availability webpage, the additions introduce Siri to Brazil, Denmark, India, Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Sweden, Thailand and Turkey.

iOS device owners in each of the nine countries are now able to access Twitter, Facebook, Local Search, Directions and Shazam song recognition directly through Apple's Siri virtual assistant. Another feature, Siri Sports scores, also rolled out in New Zealand.

With today's update, users living in Brazil, China, India, Thailand and Turkey can also link their iPhone to compatible automotive infotainment systems via CarPlay. The feature is not completely fleshed out, however, as China is the only country to get Maps integration.

When Apple first introduced Siri in 2011, full feature availability was limited to customers inside the U.S. The technology has slowly gained support for foreign languages, localized search and regional mapping assets and is now comes standard on all iOS devices. Siri is also a major user interface component in the upcoming Apple Watch, a device that relies on dictation for text entry and system navigation.

Compared to Siri, CarPlay is less mature having debuted early last year. In March, Apple said all major car makers have pledged support for CarPlay, announcing its in-car service would appear in 40 new models in 2015.