Apple's Siri Overhaul Faces Significant Delays, Pushing Full AI Integration to 2027

Major Siri Redesign May Be Delayed Again, Report Says

Samantha Kelly is a freelance writer with a focus on consumer technology, AI, social media, Big Tech, emerging trends and how they impact our everyday lives. Her work has been featured on CNN, NBC, NPR, the BBC, Mashable and more. With Siri's next update now expected in May after some delay, it's possible the virtual assistant's bigger AI overhaul won't arrive until 2027. The update for a more radically modernized Siri update is facing setbacks, according to Bloomberg. Apple initially announced a revamped Siri at WWDC in June 2024, but that update has been delayed about 11 months due to bugs. That not only impacts the release of new Siri features in iOS 19 - expected at WWDC 2025 in June - but also creates a ripple effect on Apple's broader AI ambitions for iOS 20 and beyond. According to the report, Siri in current iOS 18 essentially has two separate systems. One is for classic Siri commands, such as setting timers and making calls, and another is for handling more advanced queries using user data. However, Apple Intelligence must rely on these two systems working together. The plan to eventually merge them - under a system codenamed "LLM Siri" - is expected for iOS 19, likely debuting soon at WWDC with an official launch next spring. But sources told Bloomberg the next-generation Siri, which is expected to be much more conversational and intuitive, won't be ready until iOS 20 in 2027 at the earliest. The company did not respond to a request for comment. The delay could put Apple at a significant disadvantage as rivals like OpenAI and Google push forward with more advanced intelligent assistants. The ultimate goal remains to make Siri more conversational and capable of handling everyday tasks. Meanwhile, the delays come as Apple prepares to launch Apple Intelligence in China. The company is reportedly partnering with local firms to bring the software to China later this year, adapting it to comply with government regulations that limit what information iPhone users can access. At the same time, however, Dan Ives, senior analyst at Wedbush Securities, said because Apple is taking a different approach to AI than its competitors, the timing may not be as much of a setback as it appears. "We view Apple playing a different game, as they are agnostic of LLM. It's about Apple Intelligence as a developer platform for AI," he said. "A new Siri design will happen, but not overnight." He added: "Apple is a toll collector for AI on its App Store. We estimate 25% of the world will [eventually] access AI through an Apple device."

Apple's full Siri overhaul might be pushed back to 2027

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is running way behind on meaningful upgrades for its voice assistant and "conversational version of Siri won't reach consumers until iOS 20 at best." The slow, staggered, and sometimes delayed rollout of Apple Intelligence features has already indicated that Apple is struggling to deliver a more advanced Siri, akin to OpenAI's ChatGPT. But now, Apple is in a full-blown "AI crisis" and facing "make-or-break" moment to meet sky-high expectations or risk losing its competitive edge altogether, said Gurman. To be clear, Siri is getting smarter in some areas. The upcoming iOS 18.5 will reportedly enable Siri to tap into users' personal data to elicit more customized responses and "take action" across apps. But at the center of the crisis is Siri's functionality, which currently relies on a patchwork combination of the legacy system for simpler commands and a more advanced version that handles Apple Intelligence queries. The plan was to merge the two systems into one system dubbed internally "LLM Siri," in time for the iOS 18 launch, but that didn't happen in time. Apple was planning to bring LLM Siri to the iOS 19 release at WWDC this coming June, but that plan is reportedly delayed now too. That means the iOS 19 update might not come with any significant Apple Intelligence updates, and LLM Siri might be pushed back to the next product cycle, iOS 20. This heaps onto an already disappointing rollout of Apple Intelligence, which Gurman reports has "extremely low" usage according to internal data. Currently, Apple Intelligence consists of AI features like writing tools, voicemail and audio transcriptions, custom emojis called Genmoji, and Image Playground for AI-generated cartoon images. Such features are mildly helpful or fun novelties, but hardly the vital use cases Apple is looking for. Apple Intelligence also provides AI-generated summaries of notifications, messages, and emails, but some users have found these summaries to be annoying at best, and scarily inaccurate at worst, like when it falsely claimed suspected Healthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione shot himself. Apple subsequently suspended AI news summaries for the time being. Meanwhile, Amazon just debuted an updated version of its voice assistant, Alexa+ which has the conversational capabilities, third-party app integration, and agentic AI features Apple is probably aiming for with Siri. All eyes are on Apple now to see if it can close the gap.

Apple Intelligence just ran into more bad news -- and Siri is the problem

If you've been eagerly awaiting the shiny new version of Siri Apple promised back in June, you might be in for a much longer wait than expected. New rumors hint that Apple may not roll out a true conversational version of Siri until 2026 or even 2027. Apple announced its Apple Intelligence AI platform at WWDC 2024, including a much-needed update to Siri. That was almost a year ago now, and we have yet to see many of those new AI features. To make matters worse, the rumored release date for the Siri update has been bumped back multiple times. The latest hints highlight just how far behind Apple has fallen on AI. It begs the question: when a large language model version of Siri finally arrives, will it be too late for Apple to catch up? On Sunday, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman revealed that Apple's big Siri update may be even further behind than initially predicted. Earlier this year, rumors indicated that a Siri update will arrive in iOS 18.4 this spring. While that could still happen, it looks like it will not be a major overhaul complete with large language model (LLM) technology similar to that of ChatGPT. According to Gurman, Apple rushed to get Apple Intelligence ready to launch with iOS 18, which didn't leave enough time to properly integrate the new AI tech into Apple's operating systems. It also left Apple short on time to get the LLM version of Siri ready to go. However, Apple still plans to get Apple Intelligence fused into its operating systems more seamlessly. As Gurman explained, "I expect this to be introduced as early as Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June of this year -- with a launch by spring 2026 as part of iOS 19.4. The new system, dubbed "LLM Siri" internally, was also supposed to introduce a more conversational approach. But that is now running behind as well and won't be unveiled in June. Not only will LLM Siri not arrive in June, it might not arrive even in 2026. According to Gurman, employees in Apple's AI division have hinted that "a true modernized, conversational version of Siri won't reach consumers until iOS 20 at best in 2027." A three year delay is not a good look for an update that was announced in 2024, especially as Apple's rivals in the consumer AI space barrel ahead, leaving Siri in the dust. One in particular has caught my attention: Alexa+. Last week, Amazon announced Alexa+, a sprawling new version of its AI assistant that integrates with its smart home and streaming devices. I have to admit, the features Amazon showed off sound legitimately useful and interesting, and that's coming from someone who's never been a particularly big fan of Alexa or Echo devices. In fact, it's hard not to look at Alexa+ and see everything Siri could have been. Among the 50+ features Amazon announced, Alexa+ can interact with users through natural conversation, remember and recognize members of your household, keep track of personalized routines and reminders for different people, summarize activity from smart home devices, help you navigate video content on Prime Video, recommend movies and shows based on natural conversations, and more. Those features go well beyond the basic chat and search functionality of ChatGPT. I can see ways Alexa+ could be legitimately helpful in everyday life, not just for generating an email draft or a custom emoji. I would have loved to see Apple roll out something similar that integates with, say, AppleTV. While Apple doesn't have as much of a presence in smart home tech, it does have a huge collection of well-integrated devices it could bring similar practical features to. That just leaves the lackluster handful of Apple Intelligence features we've already seen look even more disappointing. For Apple's sake, I hope the rumors are wrong and that LLM Siri overhaul is arriving soon. Unfortunately, it might already be too late for Apple to make an impact in AI unless it gives Siri the makeover of the century.

iOS 18.5 is coming soon with huge Siri upgrades -- here's everything to expect

Apple rolled out the iOS 18.4 beta at the end of February, with the full version of the update expected in April. But forgive us if we're already looking ahead to iOS 18.5. Typically, this late in the iOS cycle, we'd be thinking more about the iOS 19 preview that's likely coming in the summer, as opposed to updates for iPhone software released last fall. But with iOS 18, Apple has been drip-feeding the AI features meant to be the bulk of Apple Intelligence, with new features arriving periodically ever since October. A revamped AI-capable Siri 2.0 was supposed to arrive as part of those features, with many suggesting that iOS 18.4 would bring new capabilities to the iPhone's built-in assistant. However, that didn't happen, reportedly because the features weren't polished enough. Even worse, Blooomberg's Mark Gurman reports that Apple might be "half a decade" behind competitors like Google and OpenAI when it comes to AI. A more dire window than reports from October 2024 claiming Apple was two years behind on AI. Nevertheless, we're going to see those Siri additions at some point, and it sounds like iOS 18.5 will be the time. Here's when that update is coming, what it might feature and why Siri has met with these reported delays. So far, all we're really expecting is a the AI-capable Siri and potentially Apple Intelligence support in China. The revamped Siri was announced during last year's WWDC, and it was expected to be seen earlier. Siri 2.0 promised a number of of new features, some of which are already available thanks to earlier iOS 18 updates. Those last two features are the big missing pieces. There supposed to let you use your voice to perform actions instead of opening an app. Personal context is another still-to-come upgrade. This means that Siri should be more of an actual assistant as it understands context from previous texts and emails or places you've traveled. You could then ask Siri about that content or tell you about meetings. Much of this is supposed to be powered by a framework dubbed App Intents which will integrate with Spotlight and Shortcuts. An example, here would be a maps app providing instructions pulled from a note in your Notes app and then sending those directions via the Messages app. Lastly, Siri should gain on-screen awareness, meaning that Siri can understand what you're looking at and perform actions based on what's on the screen. In his report in which he detailed how Apple's AI efforts are lagging behind, Gurman said to not expect to see iOS 18.5 until May. He does not indicate if it will release in early or late May. It's possible it easily slip into June, if Apple continues to struggle with AI. For those signed up for the developer's beta, that will likely launch in April right after iOS 18.4's full release. In February, Gurman also reported of Siri's troubles, including the likelihood of a postponed update. At the time, he claimed it would likely come out in May and indicated that Apple engineers were struggling with getting Siri up to snuff. More recently, Gurman reported that when Apple announced Siri 2.0 in June 2024, the company "barely had a functional prototype." Apparently, it didn't become a problem until earlier this year when veteran software manager Kim Vorrath was put in charge of the AI team to get the upgraded assistant in shape. Gurman blames part of the problem on Apple's belated realization that it needed more resources for AI and couldn't quickly grab enough chips to run AI learning software. Apple already has a partnership with OpenAI that enables ChatGPT with Siri, though mostly on a surface level. As Gurman notes, currently, Siri has two brains -- the old Siri that we're used to and the ChatGPT side for more "advanced queries." It's been suggested that perhaps Apple needs a deeper integration with a company like OpenAI or Anthropic on a foundational level to help improve Siri. Just as the company is doing with its iPhone C1 modems that are built in-house, Apple could eventually swap to an Apple developed assistant. Additionally, Siri might not be fully ready until iOS 19 or even iOS 20, based on Gurman's reporting. Apple could actually meld ChatGPT and the legacy Siri for iOS 19 but that might not actually launch until spring 2026. Apple is behind, but the question is whether can it catch up. And if it can't, can it create a version of Siri that people want to use?

Siri's Major Apple Intelligence Upgrade Is Now Expected To Arrive With iOS 18.5 Instead Of iOS 18.4, As Apple Engineers Face Development Challenges

Siri is expected to receive a major upgrade soon, which will allow it to perform complex tasks only through natural language commands. The new utilities were previously speculated to arrive with the release of iOS 18.4, but it appears that the company is running behind schedule. We have been hearing for a long time that Apple's software engineers are having a hard time delivering Apple Intelligence upgrades, and it seems that the trend will continue until next year. Mark Gurman notes in his latest Power On newsletter that Apple will delay major AI features in iOS 19, which includes Sir enhancements and much more. Apple's software engineers seem to be running behind schedule, potentially due to the complexities involved in the generative AI technology. The delays are so extensive that the company is also planning to delay some of iOS 18 features by a month or so. We have previously reported that the new Siri experience was slated to arrive with the release of iOS 18.4, but based on the recent report, Apple has delayed it until iOS 18.5. The follow-up release, iOS 18.5, is where the good stuff is supposed to wind up. It has the AI-infused Siri that the company showed off last June, as well as support for Apple Intelligence in China. Apple engineers have been working on iOS 18.5 since February, and Gurman claims that the company will release the first beta of the update in April, while the final version is slated to arrive in May. Siri is lagging behind the likes of Google Gemini and ChatGPT when it comes to information and relevancy, and Apple is aiming to change that. The next major update for Siri will redefine how Siri works on the iPhone and all other compatible devices, offering Apple Intelligence assistance through various means. The next version of Siri will be a test of whether Apple can mount a comeback. The software is likely be released in May, a full 11 months after it was introduced. At this point, it is unclear if Apple will include major features for Siri in the upcoming betas of iOS 18.4 or if it will introduce the new utilities in iOS 18.5. We will keep you posted on the latest, so be sure to keep an eye out.

Siri's 'more personalized' AI is getting delayed

The type of question Apple promises Siri will be able to answer with Apple Intelligence. Image source: Apple While Apple scheduled and pushed out plenty of artificial intelligence-powered features in the last several months, the next batch of improvements to Siri aren't going to arrive on time. Like most other Big Tech companies, Apple has been making some pretty big strides in the AI space as of late. We've seen features like Genmoji, Image Playground, Writing Tools, and Visual Intelligence roll out over the past few months. However, one feature that we were promised hasn't materialized yet -- the new, more personalized Siri. Siri was allegedly supposed to adopt a set of new Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18.4, but it looks like that won't be the case. The reason for the delay is pretty unsurprising: the new Siri features aren't up to Apple's standards. An Apple spokesperson told Daring Fireball that the company is facing a bit of an unexpected delay, but plans to introduce the new features "in the coming year." "Siri helps our users find what they need and get things done quickly, and in just the past six months, we've made Siri more conversational, introduced new features like type to Siri and product knowledge, and added an integration with ChatGPT. We've also been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps. It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year." This means features like Personal Context Understanding, In-App Actions, and Onscreen Awareness won't make an appearance until July for beta users, and September for everyone else -- if they even show up then. When Apple first boasted about the feature in ads, it showed how someone could ask Siri the name of someone they met before and it would read their calendar for the answer. Another feature would allow a user to ask about a sports team, then say "when do they play next?" and Siri would add that event to their calendar. Siri currently remains an unfinished hybrid of its old and new features, which hasn't been going quite as well as one would hope.

Apple says some AI improvements to Siri delayed to 2026

March 7 (Reuters) - Some artificial intelligence improvements to Apple's (AAPL.O), opens new tab voice assistant Siri will be delayed until 2026, the company said on Friday. In a statement, Apple said it has "been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps. It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year." Apple did not give a reason for the delays. The iPhone maker had previously indicated the features would come in 2025. Last year, Apple announced a range of AI-driven features called Apple Intelligence that included new capabilities such as rewriting emails and summarizing a cluttered inbox. Some of the biggest improvements were aimed at giving its Siri assistant the ability to duck in and out of apps and complete tasks for a user by tapping into information stored on Apple devices. Apple gave examples such as asking Siri to pull up a podcast recommended by a friend or pulling up flight tracking information from a relative, all based on data held on the device. The company has been building a vast new cloud computing infrastructure that runs on its own chips in an effort to maintain its privacy stance while delivering AI features. Apple has said Siri fields 1.5 billion user requests per day. Apple's rivals have also been rushing to add AI features to their voice assistants, with Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab Google adding its Gemini model to its assistant last year. Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab last month rolled out an AI-driven overhaul of its Alexa assistant, saying that the new capabilities would be free for subscribers to its Prime program but cost $19.99 a month otherwise. Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Nia Williams Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Artificial Intelligence

Apple says some AI improvements to Siri delayed to 2026

(Reuters) - Some artificial intelligence improvements to Apple's voice assistant Siri will be delayed until 2026, the company said on Friday. In a statement, Apple said it has "been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps. It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year." Apple did not give a reason for the delays. The iPhone maker had previously indicated the features would come in 2025. Last year, Apple announced a range of AI-driven features called Apple Intelligence that included new capabilities such as rewriting emails and summarizing a cluttered inbox. Some of the biggest improvements were aimed at giving its Siri assistant the ability to duck in and out of apps and complete tasks for a user by tapping into information stored on Apple devices. Apple gave examples such as asking Siri to pull up a podcast recommended by a friend or pulling up flight tracking information from a relative, all based on data held on the device. The company has been building a vast new cloud computing infrastructure that runs on its own chips in an effort to maintain its privacy stance while delivering AI features. Apple has said Siri fields 1.5 billion user requests per day. Apple's rivals have also been rushing to add AI features to their voice assistants, with Alphabet's Google adding its Gemini model to its assistant last year. Amazon last month rolled out an AI-driven overhaul of its Alexa assistant, saying that the new capabilities would be free for subscribers to its Prime program but cost $19.99 a month otherwise. (Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Nia Williams)

Apple is delaying Siri's AI upgrade

Reports about a new Siri -- one that's based on advanced large language models -- first emerged last year, teasing enhancements such as fluid conversations and the ability to carry out complex requests, like performing actions across several apps. Although an arrival date for the so-called "LLM Siri" upgrade was never publicly set, reports said Apple planned to unveil the new Siri in the iOS 18.4 upgrade sometime in April. However, Apple now expects to release its AI-infused Siri "in the coming year," according to Bloomberg. Apple didn't immediately respond to Quartz's request for comment on the matter, but the company told Bloomberg that its update is "going to take us longer than we thought." Apple is working on integrating advanced AI technology into its products as part of its Apple Intelligence initiative, which the company introduced last June at its annual developer conference, WWDC. Some say the tech giant is lagging in scaling its AI capabilities, falling behind industry rivals such as OpenAI and Amazon (AMZN-1.15%), the latter of which announced an AI-enhanced version of its personal assistant Alexa last month. But some analysts believe this is entirely "on-brand" when it comes to Apple's approach to new technology. After all, Apple was not the first company to make smartphones or smartwatches, but ultimately iPhones and Apple Watches became dominant products in their respective markets.

Apple Says Some AI-Powered Enhancements to Siri to Be Delayed

Apple said it is delaying an upgrade to Siri that is enhanced by artificial intelligence. The company, which has faced slumping iPhone sales in recent months, on Friday said that it would take it longer than expected to make Siri more personalized and make it able to take action for the user within and across apps. "It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year," the company said. The delay follows recent efforts from Apple to make Siri more conversational, and an integration with OpenAI's ChatGPT, the company said. In September, Apple unveiled a new generation of iPhones that put AI at the forefront to attract consumers through new AI features. These tools, called "Apple Intelligence," were set to include an improved Siri voice assistant and a variety of text-generation and photo-editing capabilities. The Cupertino, Calif., company most recently reported iPhone sales for the key December quarter were down nearly 1% from the prior year, to $69.1 billion, a miss from the $70.7 billion analysts were projecting, according to FactSet.

Apple delays iPhone AI features as it stumbles in race with rivals

Apple has delayed new artificial intelligence features for its Siri voice assistant, undercutting its effort to compete with offerings from rivals Google and Amazon. The iPhone maker confirmed in a statement on Friday that it would take "longer than we thought" to deliver capabilities teased last year when the company unveiled Apple Intelligence -- a major push to infuse its popular products with generative AI. At its flagship developers' event in June, Apple said Siri's new attributes would make it smarter, more deeply integrated with the device and personalised to the user. The Cupertino, California, tech group has already taken steps to integrate Siri with OpenAI's ChatGPT and build out a dedicated cloud infrastructure to process user requests involving privacy and security. But other features the company initially promised since then have been delayed. These include "on-screen awareness", such as Siri identifying an address in a message thread and adding it to a user's contacts when asked. The aim, which is being pursued across the smartphone industry, is to move to more voice-based interaction rather than manual tapping. Another delayed feature is the ability for Siri to take actions inside of apps, such as requesting a specific photo of someone in a user's contacts. On Friday the company said it now anticipated rolling these features out "in the coming year", suggesting they could be delayed until as late as 2026. Apple did not clarify why the features had been delayed. It marks the latest in a series of setbacks in the company's software road map. Apple recently had to pull AI news notification summaries due to errors and received backlash last week over a glitch in its voice-to-text feature. The consumer hardware industry is leaning heavily into AI "agents", hoping they can deliver a competitive advantage in making their products appeal to consumers. Google's Gemini, for example, has been integrated into Apple competitor Samsung's latest line of smartphones, with a recent televised advertising campaign showing off the abilities of Samsung's S25 Ultra, launched in January. OpenAI has also pushed out its own voice features for ChatGPT. Last week Amazon unveiled a long-delayed "conversational" version of its own voice assistant, Alexa, promising more natural and flowing conversations with the AI-powered chatbot. More than two years after ChatGPT kick-started a new AI race between Big Tech companies, Apple is lagging behind both its immediate rivals Google and Amazon, as well as AI start-ups including Anthropic and xAI, in offering the smartest AI features to consumers. Analysts have identified Apple's move to overhaul its 14-year-old voice assistant as a potential "killer" feature, which could convince users to upgrade to new devices. Apple Intelligence remains available only in English and local variants, limiting its reach among the company's vast global user base. More languages are scheduled for release next month, an update the company still expects to deliver on time. Analysts tracking sales of the iPhone 16 have not seen evidence that its new AI capabilities have boosted sales. Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, recently said Apple Intelligence had marked a rare "false start" for the company, with it rushing to keep pace with a wave of AI enthusiasm. In China, where Apple has recently lost ground to competitors, it has had to navigate regulatory requirements as it seeks to partner with local AI providers. A partnership with Chinese tech company Alibaba announced last month was seen as a potential breakthrough.

Apple officially delays the AI-infused Siri and admits, 'It's going to take us longer than we thought'

We've all been waiting for Apple to drop the significant Siri upgrade that was supposed to arrive at some point within the iOS 18 lifecycle. It goes beyond Siri's colorful glow all around the screen that's been here since the iPhone 16 lineup launched in September of 2024 and was promised to make the virtual assistant smarter, more useful, and a far better conversationalist. However, our hopes were greatly diminished with iOS 18.4 arriving as developer and public betas without a new Siri. This is especially true after so many reports and rumors hinted that Apple was planning to release the new Siri - at least the first taste of it - in the spring. Now, though, Apple has confirmed to Daring Fireball that the significant Siri upgrade is delayed: "It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features, and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year." Those features included Siri factoring in personal context and the ability to see, understand, and control various applications on your device. Apple originally announced the upgraded Siri with Personal Context back at the main WWDC 2024 keynote (World Wide Developers Conference) on June 10 without an exact release date in writing, but that it would arrive in the coming months. The statement to Daring Fireball in full from Apple reads: "Siri helps our users find what they need and get things done quickly, and in just the past six months, we've made Siri more conversational, introduced new features like type to Siri and product knowledge, and added an integration with ChatGPT. We've also been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps. It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year." Apple has rolled out numerous Apple Intelligence features, but even so, this major upgrade to Siri, which would have put it on the same playing field as OpenAI's ChatGPT Voice Mode or Gemini Live, was a real headliner. Writing tools, notification summaries, and Clean Up in photos, among others, are all helpful, and so is Siri's ability to provide tech support. Even so, the truly smarter Siri would have been the real meat and potatoes of Apple Intelligence. It's also a rare admission from Apple, but the strong communication and transparency with level-setting expectations for when these features will finally ship is appreciated. I imagine even more so for folks who have been waiting for it to drop - me being one of them - and have invested in devices that are capable of running Apple Intelligence. It's on par with the cancellation of AirPower, the iPhone 4's 'Antennagate,' and the retooling of Apple Maps. Further, it's worth giving this piece by TechRadar's Editor-at-Large Lance Ulanoff a read with this statement from Apple providing additional context - Apple's privacy first and a more cautious approach with AI and Apple Intelligence was doing it no favors, writing "Yes, I get that Apple is the most privacy-aware and secure consumer platform and ecosystem. A portion of their AI strategy revolves around Private Cloud Compute. But what is that locked-down vapor actually doing for us?" It's worth a read now in light of the confirmed delay. At least Apple is still committed to rolling out this new Siri with personal context and app access. Further, it's clear they're committed to doing it right ... even if that takes more time. Safe to say that the stakes will be even higher at the 2025 World Wide Developers Conference and with iOS 19, both of which are likely three months away as the event is typically within the first two weeks of June.

Apple's Siri Won't Get Smarter Soon as AI Upgrade Gets Delayed - Decrypt

Apple is hitting the brakes on an anticipated AI update to its digital assistant Siri, the tech giant said on Friday. Apple confirmed that Siri's revamped version with Apple Intelligence is now expected to come out later than expected "in the coming year." In a statement to Daring Fireball's John Gruber, an Apple spokesperson said that while several improvements have been made to Siri -- like integrating the assistant with OpenAI's ChatGPT and making it more conversational and accessible -- other features will take more time to roll out. "We've also been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps," the spokesperson said. "It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year." Apple has not officially stated the reason behind the pause. Reuters reported that the update is now expected in 2026, however Gruber estimated that Apple will release the fully revamped Siri with the launch of iOS 19 and macOS 16 -- those are expected sometime this fall. The Apple Intelligence features have not been included in recent Apple developer beta updates. Apple did not immediately respond to Decrypt's request for comment. While Apple promises a new wave of AI-powered experiences across iOS, macOS, and iPad, the company now faces the challenge of keeping pace in an ongoing AI arms race. Some disgruntled users took to social media to voice their frustration over the delay. Apple has already rolled out several AI features for users, including customizable emojis, a generative AI image generator in Messages, and AI-powered search for Apple TV and Apple Music. The delay in Siri's upgrade raises questions about Apple's AI strategy after shifting heavily towards artificial intelligence in 2024. These AI-focused plans include a planned investment of $500 billion in AI research announced in February, and a partnership with semiconductor developer Broadcom to launch its first AI server chip in 2026.

Siri Stays Unintelligent in 2025 as Apple's AI Upgrades Are Delayed

Apple's "more personalized" version of Siri is delayed until 2026. The enhanced voice assistant, which leverages AI for greater contextual awareness, was first shown at WWDC 2024 and originally scheduled for a 2025 launch. According to Apple, Siri has already gained a ton of AI functionality. And this is more or less true -- Siri behaves more like a chatbot, providing back-and-forth conversations when users need to look up information, build shopping lists, control HomeKit devices, and perform other tasks. The voice assistant can also tap into ChatGPT, if necessary. But these are just simple, straightforward improvements to Siri's existing functionality. Apple hopes to make more radical changes to its voice assistant by implementing AI-powered personalization features. During WWDC 2024, the company showed how Siri could locate items or information from your inbox, understand the contextual implications of names or locations, and interact directly with apps. Here's a quick snippet of Apple's WWDC 2024 sales pitch for those who need a refresher: "Can't remember if a friend shared that recipe with you in a note, a text, or an email? Need your passport number while booking a flight? Siri can use its knowledge of the information on your device to help find what you're looking for, without compromising your privacy." Conceptually, the "more personalized" Siri isn't all that different from the AI ideals espoused by Google or Microsoft. Tech leaders believe that AI-integrated operating systems will fundamentally change the "human-computer interface," and while I'm not sold on the idea (and hate the term "human-computer interface"), it's clear that deep AI integration can be beneficial in some contexts. The Reason for the Delay: AI Is Hard Every tech company has over-promised and under-delivered their AI products. It's not just Apple. Yeah, the world feels pretty fast these days, but it took two years for Microsoft to fart out a Copilot app that runs natively in Windows. Don't even get me started on Apple's embarrassing notification summaries. Apple's explanation for its AI-enhanced Siri delay comes down to "oops, this is really hard to do," which isn't too surprising. The company has tasked itself with overhauling a 13-year-old voice assistant, which is a monumental challenge even without all the AI stuff. And, just from a quality control perspective, AI is notoriously imperfect. An AI assistant that digs through your emails and text messages needs to be at least somewhat reliable. An Apple spokesperson provided the following statement to Daring Fireball: "Siri helps our users find what they need and get things done quickly, and in just the past six months, we've made Siri more conversational, introduced new features like type to Siri and product knowledge, and added an integration with ChatGPT. We've also been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps. It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year." For reference, enhanced Siri functionality is not included in the current iOS or macOS developer betas. Some analysts speculated that the features would arrive in a mid-2025 beta release, while others took on more cynical, critical assumptions -- Apple Intelligence products are always delayed, why would this Siri integration be any different? Apple rarely announces product delays. When we do learn of a product delay, it's usually by inference -- Apple fails to mention a product at an important launch event, so we assume that the product is behind schedule (I give my condolences to AirPower-obsessed readers). Unfortunately for Apple, the AI market boom is driven by intense speculation and timeliness. Publicly-traded tech companies that fail to show progress in AI will be punished. It's better to show off a couple of mockups, wait a few months, and quietly announce a delay before people start asking questions or shaping the narrative. I should also point out that this delay was announced at the tail end of a exceptionally chaotic trading week. Anyways, look out for a super-AI-enhanced Siri in 2026. If Apple manages to get this stuff out at the beginning of the year, then it'll be included in an iOS 19.X update. Otherwise, a September 2026 release alongside iOS 20 is likely. Source: Apple via Reuters, Daring Fireball

Bloomberg: Apple could have to scrap new Siri AI features and start over - 9to5Mac

Earlier today, Apple announced that it is delaying the launch of the "more personalized" version of Siri, which was first announced at WWDC last year. In a statement, the company said it anticipates rolling the features out "in the coming year." Bloomberg is now out with a new report detailing the internal turmoil that led to this delay, with Apple's software chief Craig Federighi reportedly voicing "strong concerns that the features didn't work properly" in his testing. Apple initially hoped to include the revamped version of Siri with features like personal context and in-app actions as part of iOS 18.4. As development slipped, the launch was postponed to iOS 18.5 in May. Since that decision was made, Apple engineers "have been racing to fix a rash of bugs in the project," and that work has been unsuccessful. Bloomberg says that "people involved in the efforts" now believe these features won't be released until "next year at the earliest." Meanwhile, some people within Apple's AI team reportedly believe the features could be thrown out altogether. From the report: In the lead-up to the latest delay, software chief Craig Federighi and other executives voiced strong concerns internally that the features didn't work properly -- or as advertised -- in their personal testing, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters. Some within Apple's AI division believe that work on the features could be scrapped altogether, and that Apple may have to rebuild the functions from scratch. The capabilities would then be delayed until a next-generation Siri that Apple hopes to begin rolling out in 2026. Apple's delay for these iOS 18 features follows a separate report from earlier this week, which detailed delays impacting Apple's plans for a more conversational version of Siri in iOS 19. According to today's report, Apple employees are "questioning" whether Apple CEO Tim Cook or the company's board should "take action to change the leadership of the AI group." John Giannandrea serves as Apple's Senior Vice President of Machine Learning and AI Strategy, reporting directly to Cook. Giannandrea joined Apple from Google in 2018 and was promoted to the senior vice president level that same year. Today's statement from Apple didn't offer a specific timeline for when the new Siri features will launch. Here's the full statement Apple spokeswoman Jacqueline Roy gave to Daring Fireball: Siri helps our users find what they need and get things done quickly, and in just the past six months, we've made Siri more conversational, introduced new features like type to Siri and product knowledge, and added an integration with ChatGPT. We've also been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps. It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year. What exactly "in the coming year means" remains to be seen. Bloomberg's reporting suggests that the timeline extends into 2026 rather than the end of 2025.

Apple confirms Siri 2.0 is delayed to iOS 19 and possibly beyond

After facing delays and suggestions that an improved Siri would arrive with iOS 18.5 later this spring, it appears we may not see Siri 2.0 until later this year, possibly not until 2026. The tech blog Daring Fireball received a statement from Apple today implying that we wouldn't see the next Siri until the release iOS 19. "It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year," Apple spokesperson Jaqueline Roy reportedly told Daring Fireball. Roy noted in her statement that the company had made Siri "more conversational" while adding features like type to Siri, ChatGPT integration and product knowledge. It's not an entirely surprising delay for the Apple voice assistant. In February, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman wrote a massive report that Siri was in trouble with Apple engineers struggling with getting the revamped assistant off the ground. It was another knock against Apple's AI strategy that was at least two years behind on AI compared to competitors like Google and OpenAI. For Apple the news got worse this month when it was revealed in another article that Apple may be half a decade behind its rivals. As Roy noted in her statement, Apple is supposed to be launching a more "personalized Siri" that understands context via AI tools. Apple announced some of those contextual features during last summer's WWDC some of which have sort of arrived, two of which are the big missing puzzle pieces: Personal context means that Siri would be more like an actual assistant to iPhone owners. Potentially it would understand context from texts, emails, or location tracking and respond with related information based on conversational prompts via the "App Intents" tools Siri would run on. As Apple claimed in its announcement in June of last year: "Siri will be able to deliver intelligence that's tailored to the user and their on-device information." This would allow for "Shortcuts" that allow Siri to access content from various Apple apps and utilize other apps in an intelligent manner. For example, you would ask Siri to pull directions from a Note that gets put into Apple Maps and then sent to your Messages app. Coupled with on-screen awareness, which is supposed to let Siri understand what you're looking at on your screen, it presents an expansive AI-powered future, that clearly isn't ready for the limelight. For now, though, Siri is hindered and coupled to ChatGPT to do some of the AI requests that Apple promised, though none of the real contextual work. Apple has long had the public ethos that the company would not release a product until it was ready. In general this has held true, with Apple tending to launch finished, polished products that people want on arrival, save for the more expensive recent flops like the Apple Vision Pro. Much of the speculation surrounding Apple's first foray into foldable phones has centered on rumors that Apple has been quite picky about the parts going into their folding iPhone and willing to delay launch until it gets things like a creaseless display correct. Though recent rumors have hinted at a distressingly expensive product that may not launch until 2026 or 2027. That all to say, it's been surprising to see Apple slowly rollout its new Apple Intelligence features with each new iOS 18 update. The company's take on AI didn't even launch with the iPhone 16 lineup, instead some features got turned on with the arrival if iOS 18.1 in late October of 2024. It seems Apple wasn't ready to join the AI rat race and needed more time tinkering in the kitchen. Though, perhaps it might be better to wait since consumers are regularly reported as being turned off by the recent AI push. Still, as Apple appears to struggle with AI, it may be sometime before we actually get the future Apple pitched at WWDC last year. Which makes us wonder how the company will spin things later this summer during the 2025 iteration of WWDC. For now, Siri isn't ready for the spotlight and may not be well after people forget there was supposed to be more.

Apple is delaying the only Apple Intelligence feature everyone wanted

The 'more personalized' Siri will now arrive sometime 'in the coming year.' Remember the iPhone 16 ad where Bella Ramsey asked her phone to remind her of the name of the person she had a meeting with a few months ago? You probably won't be able to do that until the iPhone 17. Apple on Friday confirmed (via Daring Fireball) that the new personalized Siri that was originally expected to arrive in iOS 18.4, then pushed back to iOS 18.5, now won't arrive until sometime in the coming year. With WWDC just a few months away, it seems likely that the revamped Siri will be delayed until the iOS 19 cycle, and probably in a 2026 update. The main features being delayed, according to Apple's statement, are onscreen awareness, personal context, and app intents, three of the most anticipated Apple Intelligence features. Onscreen awareness lets Siri see and understand what's on your screen so you can ask it to do something like, "Add this person to my contacts," while personal context, as seen in the Ramsay ad above, lets Siri use its knowledge of the messages, events, and other personal information on your device to help it give information tailored to you. But App Intents is probably the most disappointing feature that will miss the deadline. The feature will let you take action across various apps with Siri, something users have wanted for years. For example, Siri could retrieve flight information from a third-party app and send it to a friend with a single command. Apple Intelligence has had a bumpy rollout. None of the features were available when iOS 18 arrived in September, and they have been slowly rolling out in updates since. Apple temporarily disabled its news summary feature earlier this year after a series of erroneous alerts, and also removed the Sketch option from Image Playground generation. These Siri features were always promised to come in an update to iOS 18, even when first announced at WWDC, but that didn't stop them from running ads for iPhone 16 that included the features. Now, they won't be available until at least the time iPhone 17 is on the shelves. There's a reason the delay was announced quietly and on a Friday following a week of announcements -- it's an embarrassing admission of how far behind Apple is on AI. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported earlier this week that the "conversational" Siri-based rival to ChatGPT and Gemini won't arrive until 2027. With this new delay, it's likely that Apple is going to be playing catch-up with the likes of Google, Samsung, and OpenAI for years to come.

Apple Delays Next-Gen Siri: 'It's Going To Take Us Longer Than We Thought' To Deliver AI Upgrades - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Apple Inc. AAPL has confirmed that its highly anticipated Siri upgrade, including AI-powered personalization and contextual awareness, has been delayed and will roll out later than expected. What Happened: On Friday, an Apple spokesperson Jacqueline Roy confirmed the delay in a statement to Daring Fireball. "We've also been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps. It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features, and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year," Roy stated. See Also: Apple Challenges UK's 'Backdoor' Order In Landmark Legal Case After Trump Compares Directive To China-Style Surveillance: Report Why It's Important: Apple originally promised at WWDC 2023 that the upgraded Siri would launch over the next year. The new features were expected this spring, but internal testing revealed significant issues. According to Bloomberg columnist Mark Gurman, Apple executives, including Craig Federighi, expressed concerns that the features didn't work properly in testing. Subscribe to the Benzinga Tech Trends newsletter to get all the latest tech developments delivered to your inbox. Some within Apple's AI division reportedly fear the work may need to be scrapped and rebuilt from scratch. This setback comes as Alphabet Inc.'s GOOG GOOGL Google and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN aggressively expand their AI-powered voice assistants. With AI assistants becoming a major battleground, Apple risks falling behind if it cannot deliver a more intelligent, conversational Siri -- which, according to Gurman, may not arrive until iOS 20 at best. Price Action: Apple's stock closed at $239.07 on Friday, rising 1.54%. However, it dipped 0.18% in after-hours trading. Year to date, AAPL is down 1.96%, according to Benzinga Pro data. Check out more of Benzinga's Consumer Tech coverage by following this link. Read Next: MrBeast Lost Millions On Amazon's 'Beast Games' -- Now He's Looking To Raise Hundreds Of Millions To Take His Brand To The Next Level Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Photo courtesy: Shutterstock AAPLApple Inc$238.651.41%Stock Score Locked: Want to See it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Reveal Full ScoreEdge RankingsMomentum84.99Growth61.13Quality89.91Value7.41Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewAMZNAmazon.com Inc$199.02-0.84%GOOGAlphabet Inc$175.710.86%GOOGLAlphabet Inc$173.710.79%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Why Apple Has Delayed Its Much-Awaited Siri Upgrade

The firm hadn't set a public deadline for Siri's AI capabilities Apple Inc.'s turmoil in its AI division reached new heights on Friday, with the company delaying promised updates to the Siri digital assistant for the foreseeable future. Apple said that features introduced last June, including Siri's ability to tap into a user's personal information to answer queries and have more precise control over apps, will now be released sometime in "the coming year." The iPhone maker hadn't previously set a public deadline for the capabilities, but they were initially planned for the iOS 18.4 software update this April. Bloomberg News reported on Feb. 14 that Apple was struggling to finish developing the features and the enhancements would be postponed until at least May -- when iOS 18.5 is due to arrive. Since then, Apple engineers have been racing to fix a rash of bugs in the project. The work has been unsuccessful, according to people involved in the efforts, and they now believe the features won't be released until next year at the earliest. In the lead-up to the latest delay, software chief Craig Federighi and other executives voiced strong concerns internally that the features didn't work properly -- or as advertised -- in their personal testing, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment. Some within Apple's AI division believe that work on the features could be scrapped altogether, and that Apple may have to rebuild the functions from scratch. The capabilities would then be delayed until a next-generation Siri that Apple hopes to begin rolling out in 2026. The company first demonstrated the features during its Worldwide Developers Conference last June, part of an unveiling of the Apple Intelligence AI platform. At the same annual event this year, Apple isn't planning to show off any big AI breakthroughs. Instead, it will focus on integrating Apple Intelligence into more of its apps. The delays -- especially of announced features -- are embarrassing for Apple and add more evidence to the idea that the company is struggling in artificial intelligence. They also threaten to set back work on future improvements. Apple had been planning to make Siri more ChatGPT-like and conversational next year. But now only the initial underpinnings for that upgrade are expected to be ready by 2026, during the iOS 19 release cycle. The actual interface that users experience likely won't arrive until iOS 20 in 2027, the people said. Bloomberg News reported earlier this week that Apple employees are questioning whether Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook or the company's board needs to take action to change the leadership of the AI group. They believe that, short of major changes, Apple will continue to fall behind. Earlier this year, the company tapped veteran software leader Kim Vorrath to help the team. The delays mark an especially public setback for Apple because the company has been advertising the not-yet-ready features in TV commercials for nearly six months. When the company introduced the iPhone 16 last fall, it did so by selling customers on the idea that the device was "built for the ground up for Apple Intelligence." Now, the core features for that experience might not be available until months after the iPhone 17 debuts. In anticipation of customer frustration, the company sent guidance to its AppleCare support representatives on Friday. "If customers ask about the timing of these Siri features, reiterate that we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year," the memo said. There are also concerns internally that fixing Siri will require having more powerful AI models run on Apple's devices. That could strain the hardware, meaning Apple either has to reduce its set of features or make the models run more slowly on current or older devices. It would also require upping the hardware capabilities of future products to make the features run at full strength. Siri did get some refinements as part of the rollout of iOS 18, including an integration with OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot and a text-based option called Type to Siri. It also includes Apple product knowledge and a new glowing interface, but those features don't represent changes to the underlying technology. The slow pace threatens to put Apple further behind Amazon.com Inc. in the voice assistant market. That company will begin rolling out its highly anticipated Alexa+ this month. Samsung Electronics Co. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google have also built AI deeply into their devices. © 2025 Bloomberg L.P.

Apple's personalized Siri update delayed until 2026: Report

Apple has delayed its planned Siri enhancements, pushing back features announced last June. Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reported that Siri's new abilities -- like accessing personal data to answer questions and controlling apps more precisely -- won't arrive until next year. Initially targeted for the iOS 18.4 update in April, these upgrades are stalled due to persistent bugs. Gurman noted that Apple engineers have struggled to resolve issues, with some insiders suggesting the features might require a complete rebuild. This could delay the release until 2026, aligning with a next-generation Siri rollout. Bloomberg highlighted last month that the enhancements were already slipping to at least iOS 18.5 in May, but the latest setbacks indicate an even longer wait. Inside Apple, software chief Craig Federighi and other leaders expressed frustration over the features' poor performance during personal testing, according to unnamed sources. The company unveiled these capabilities at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) last June as part of the Apple Intelligence platform. This year's WWDC, however, will skip major AI reveals and focus on expanding Apple Intelligence across apps. The delay raises questions about Apple's AI progress. Plans to make Siri more conversational, similar to ChatGPT, are also impacted. Only foundational work for this upgrade is expected by 2026 with iOS 19, while the full user interface may not debut until iOS 20 in 2027, the sources said. Some in Apple's AI division even fear the current features could be scrapped entirely. John Gruber of Daring Fireball added that Apple acknowledged the setback. Apple spokeswoman Jacqueline Roy told Gruber, Siri helps users find what they need and get things done quickly. In the past six months, we've made Siri more conversational, added features like type to Siri and product knowledge, and integrated ChatGPT. But delivering a more personalized Siri, with awareness of your context and app actions, will take longer than expected. We anticipate rolling these out next year. Gruber explained that this moves the "more personalized Siri" to iOS 19 and macOS 16, part of Apple's next OS cycle starting at WWDC 2025. He noted the features -- tied to "App Intents" for accessing personal app data -- missed the iOS 18.4 betas and won't appear in iOS 18.5 or 18.6 either. Despite recent Siri improvements in iOS 18 and macOS 15 Sequoia, the bigger leap forward remains delayed. Apple promised a major Siri upgrade with smarter, personalized features, but internal struggles have delayed this to next year. As one of the few tech giants, alongside Google, able to deliver such AI advancements, this setback highlights Apple's challenges in keeping up with cutting-edge AI. While the delay may slow future innovations, Apple is focused on perfecting these features, managing expectations without firm timelines, even if it means a longer wait for users.

Apple confirms long delay for AI-boosted Siri assistant

Apple's efforts with putting advanced AI capabilities across its ecosystem, the way Google has implemented them with Gemini, have a lot of ground left to cover. Among them is the Siri virtual assistant, which has remained a laggard and still hasn't received the features Apple showcased at its developers conference last year. Now, the company has officially confirmed that an overhauled Siri, one that can access locally stored user data and interact with apps, has been delayed until next year. Internally known as "LLM Siri," the next-gen makeover might not fully arrive until next year, but the delay could extend well into 2027. Recommended Videos "We've also been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps. It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year," an Apple spokesperson was quoted as saying by Daring Fireball. Apple was reportedly eyeing an April launch for the upgraded Siri experience, which was expected to arrive with the iOS 18.4 update. Top Apple executives -- including senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi -- have voiced concerns about the planned features misfiring during internal tests, reports Bloomberg. Please enable Javascript to view this content Apparently, some employees think the planned roadmap might be nixed altogether, forcing Apple to start from the ground up. As a stop-gap solution, Apple inked a deal with OpenAI to offer ChatGPT capabilities on iPhones and Mac, integrating it with Siri as part of the Apple Intelligence stack. Despite ChatGPT bringing advanced language and multimodal capabilities such as image generation and file analysis, Siri is still missing a few crucial features that could truly lift the functional experience. For example, it still can't take a look at user data and offer contextual responses, nor can it interact deeply with installed applications. Google's Gemini, which is now available natively on top-end Android devices, can tap into the data stored across its Workspace products such as Gmail, Docs, Maps, and even YouTube. Moreover, using a system of extensions, it can turn voice commands into actionable steps across different apps, including third-party apps such as Spotify. Apple has clearly missed the train, and the latest delays don't paint a particularly good picture of the innovation streak at the company. However, it is making some progress elsewhere. The company recently partnered with Alibaba and Baidu in China to speed up the development of Apple Intelligence for the local market.

Don't expect Siri to go toe-to-toe with Gemini anytime soon

Google tries a questionable new tactic to promote Gemini in Google Messages Summary Apple's big plans for a smarter, more proactive Siri are facing delays. Apple confirmed that the upgraded Siri features will trickle out "over the next year," with some advanced features possibly not arriving until 2027. Google's Gemini app on iOS offers a solid AI experience right now, setting the bar for what Apple Intelligence needs to match. Apple originally envisioned a next-level Siri as a key part of its Apple Intelligence plans, one that wouldn't just understand what's happening on your device but could also take action across apps. However, things aren't quite going as planned. A new report suggests that this AI-powered Siri upgrade is being pushed back. Apple confirmed to Daring Fireball that its upgraded, more personalized Siri is taking longer to develop than expected (via The Verge). The company mentioned these features will roll out in phases "over the next year," backing up earlier reports from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman about possible delays to some Apple Intelligence features. In fact, Gurman even suggested that the most advanced features might not fully arrive until 2027. Related 5 reasons Google's AI is leagues ahead of Apple Intelligence Even comparing the two feels unfair Posts 1 At WWDC, Apple demoed some pretty cool upgrades for Siri in iOS 18, like understanding your personal context, being aware of what's on your screen, and working better across apps. These features were originally expected to drop in a later iOS 18 update. But now, the company says these upgrades will launch in phases "over the coming year," without giving a clear release date. This news comes as Apple's AI efforts are facing more criticism for lagging behind the competition. People are starting to notice that Siri feels outdated compared to newer, flashier AI assistants like ChatGPT and Gemini. And this delay isn't helping shake that reputation. Gemini is already there while you're hanging out for an upgraded Siri Even with the delays, if you're curious about what Apple Intelligence might eventually offer, you can get a taste of it right now. Google released its Gemini app on iOS last November, giving users instant access to conversational AI and features like Gemini Live. It also sets a clear benchmark for what Siri will eventually be up against. But if this already-available tech doesn't impress you, it might be worth tempering your excitement for what's coming next from Siri. Late last month, there were early signs of Gemini being woven into Apple Intelligence, adding to the ChatGPT features already in the mix. As AI assistants like Gemini and Siri continue to evolve, the future looks set for more personalized and seamless user experiences. For iOS users, having options like Gemini means you can pick the AI that fits your needs best.

Apple hides Apple Intelligence TV ad after major Siri AI upgrade is delayed indefinitely

TL;DR: Apple has delayed the launch of Siri 2.0, which was expected to enhance the digital assistant with personal AI intelligence. Apple's much-awaited upgrade for Siri is now indefinitely delayed until at least next year, according to a new report from Bloomberg's Apple insider Mark Gurman. Apple unveiled Apple Intelligence at WWDC in June 2024, where it teased a new Siri that would be much smarter than the current version of the digital assistant. Siri's upgrade would enable users to interact with the digital assistant on a more personal level, as Siri would have deeper access to a device with cross-app integration, control over apps, and more knowledge about the user. Moreover, Siri would work similarly to ChatGPT and be able to engage with users through natural language, fulfill multiple requests, remember past sentences in conversations, etc. In fact, that is exactly what Apple was planning for the iPhone 16 line-up, with the company running ads such as this one where it stated the new and improved Siri will have a richer language understanding. Apple has since removed a TV advertisement for the AI-infused Siri from its YouTube channel, deciding to private the video which featured Last of Us TV show star Bella Ramsey. Reports from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman are now stating Apple plans on rolling out the AI injection into Siri "in the coming year". This delay highlights Apple's struggles with the integration of AI into its digital assistant and a complete overshoot of its marketing for its current generation of devices, especially since the majority of them are touted to be Apple Intelligence-ready. In fact, Apple has been selling customers on the idea of Apple Intelligence-ready devices for the past six months, yet these devices lack the main Apple Intelligence feature - a reinvigorated Siri that can compete with other AI services such as ChatGPT in terms of functionality. So, when will we get the new Siri? Apple has been promising its customers for the past six months. According to Gurman, Apple's internal testing indicates the current situation with an AI-infused Siri isn't good, with Apple's software chief Craig Federighi and other executives saying the features aren't working properly or as advertised during their personal testing. The new Siri is now delayed until next year, which means it will be released during iOS 19. However, the situation may be more dire than that as Gurman writes in his recent PowerOn newsletter that his contacts within Apple informed him the interface users are expecting with the new Siri may not arrive publicly until iOS 20, which would mean sometime in 2027.

Apple fumbles AI again: new 'LLM Siri' update for iOS 19 delayed, now expected with iOS in 2026

TL;DR: Apple's AI-powered Siri update, initially planned for iOS 19, has been delayed, highlighting Apple's struggles in AI development. The integration of advanced AI features is behind schedule, with a modernized Siri not expected until iOS 20 in 2027. Competitors have surpassed Apple, and internal challenges, including leadership and resource issues, hinder progress. Apple's much-anticipated AI-powered update for Siri was originally slated for release within iOS 19, but it has been delayed according to reports, further highlighting Apple's failure in AI so far. In his new report on Bloomberg, insider Mark Gurman writes in his PowerOn newsletter that Apple's plans to release an "LLM Siri" that could keep up in world with ChatGPT, Grok, and Alexa+ have been delayed. Right now, Siri inside of iOS 18 essentially has two brains: one that operates the regular Siri commands like timers and making calls, while another handles advanced quieries. But, in order for Apple Intelligence to be baked into iOS 18, Apple rushed and didn't spend the time melding the two systems together, meaning it doesn't work anywhere near as good, and rivals haven't just caught up, but leap-frogged Apple when it comes to integrating AI into their systems. Apple is meant to introduce an AI-powered SIri inside of iOS 19, with the new system called "LLM Siri" internally, and would introduce a more conversational approach... but Gurman writes "that is now running behind as well and won't be unveiled in June". He adds that "before Apple can go full-throttle on development of that Siri, which is supposed to finally work more like ChatGPT and the new Alexa, Apple will need to get the underlying system fixed. And that won't be easy. That's why people within Apple's AI division now believe that a true modernized, conversational version of Siri won't reach consumers until iOS 20 at best in 2027". This means that Apple is 5 years late to the AI game, its competitors are far out and ahead and by the time Apple catches up in the next couple of years, their rivals would be even further ahead. Gurman writes that a "big reason for that is the amount of time Apple is still spending working to get the features announced last year out the door. It's challenging to move on to next year's release before this year's operating system updates have rolled out to customers". "That's left Apple at a make-or-break point. Clearly, the company isn't moving fast enough internally to create an underlying AI technology it needs to keep up with the competition - and that suggests a change is required". Another issue for Apple is having enough AI accelerators to power its AI features across the iPhone, where Gurman says that according to people involved in Apple's AI work say its foundational and large language models (LLMs) -- the basis for Apple's in-house AI features -- are "reaching their limits". There have been issues with competitors poaching Apple staff, and what these sources explain as "ineffective leadership". Apple is hoping its AI models become more capable, but getting their hands on AI chips has been another issue, where the rest of the industry was buying up that capacity, once Apple realized it had been majorly caught off guard with ChatGPT, it was too late to get enough. Gurman adds that "moreover, the AI industry is advancing so quickly that the team's work is often obsolete by the time it's ready to unveil, employees say".

Apple's AI-Powered Siri Could Take Till 2027 to Be Fully Functional

Apple is said to plan a new architecture for Siri with iOS 19 The new system is reportedly called LLM Siri However, it is said to take till iOS 20 to be fully implemented Apple is reportedly struggling to improve its Siri assistant to the level that was demonstrated at its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) 2024. As per the report, the Cupertino-based tech giant is currently working hard to be able to release the initial set of artificial intelligence (AI) features in Siri by May. However, it is said that this version of Siri will not be able to meet the expectations of the demoed version. The implementation of that system could reportedly take till 2027 when the company releases the iOS 20 update. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman stated in the Power-On newsletter that Apple's current crop of Apple Intelligence features have not been able to impress its users. Citing internal company data, the report claimed that the iPhone maker's AI features have "extremely low" real world usage. This is said to be driven by the non-essential nature of the currently available features, and the lack of more advanced features such as the AI-powered Siri. Currently, the tech giant is reportedly aiming to release the initial set of AI features in Siri in May. However, this version is said to be an amalgamation of two brains -- one that powers the legacy Siri features and another that will handle the AI-related queries. The AI feature will also enable Siri to tap into user data and will be integrated with apps to perform more complex tasks. However, Gurman claimed that once released, the new Siri might not work very smoothly due to this segregated nature of intelligence. Apple is reportedly planning to merge both systems together and introduce a new architecture for Siri with iOS 19. But it will not be introduced this year, the report claimed. Instead, it is said that the company's original plan was to release it in the spring of 2026 as a part of the iOS 19.4 update. This plan is reportedly also delayed and could take till June 2026. This new Siri system is reportedly being called "LLM Siri" internally, and will also add a more conversational capability to the virtual assistant. Gurman claims a full implementation of this system, and to bring Siri to the level first demonstrated will take till iOS 20, which will arrive in 2027. Gurman also claimed that iOS 19 will not include any major addition to Apple Intelligence for the end-user. This is reportedly because the tech giant is spending all of its resources on shipping the features that were announced last year at WWDC. The report adds that to expedite the development of Siri and other AI features, Apple recently moved Kim Vorrath, a veteran software executive, to its AI and machine learning (ML) division. The executive previously oversaw the software development for the Vision Pro. Gurman also claimed, citing unnamed employees, that Apple's struggles could also put the company's SVP of Machine Learning and AI Strategy, John Giannandrea's job at risk. Notably, Giannandrea was previously working as SVP Engineering at Google.

iOS 18.4 beta doesn't have big Siri changes -- but those are coming

Ahead of the iOS 18.4 beta release, Apple watchers were expecting big things for Siri, the personal assistant on the iPhone that's getting a reboot as part of the Apple Intelligence rollout. But even though those features weren't a part of the public beta of iOS 18.4 that hit phones late last month, it's still worth knowing what's coming -- and when it could arrive. As a reminder, every year Apple announces a slew of new features for its software platforms, but not everything is ready all at once. Such was the case with iOS 18, which arrived last September, but without the promised suite of AI tools billed as Apple Intelligence. Instead, those started arriving with iOS 18.1 in October, with subsequent updates bringing more AI-powered features. This piece-by-piece approach was most keenly felt with Siri. iOS 18.1. The personal assistant received a new visual indicator -- now the edge of your iPhone screen glows to indicate that Siri is listening. Other improvements allowed you to correct your commands for Siri mid-sentence and for you to ask follow-up questions and even interrupt the digital assistant. And you could also type to Siri for those times when you preferred not to speak your requests out loud. All of those are welcome additions, but they're just the tip of the iceberg of what Apple has promised for Siri. And iOS 18.4 was supposed to deliver some of the most crucial changes, right up until the minute, it didn't. In February, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that the expected Siri changes weren't going to appear in iOS 18.4, at least certainly not the initial release of the software beta. And that's exactly how the situation panned out. Those Siri features may not currently be part of iOS 18.4, which introduces a number of changes like Priority Notifications, a new Sketch style for Image Playground and a new Genmoji icon for the keyboard. But rest assured, Apple has additional Apple Intelligence-inspired changes to Siri in the works. Here's what to expect and when they may be appearing now. Among the yet to be released Apple Intelligence features, Personal Context for Siri is probably the most significant, as well as perhaps the most eagerly anticipated. Apple has already advertised some of the capabilities this will unlock, but ultimately this is supposed to enable the company's voice assistant to understand more about your data. To do so, Apple Intelligence constructs a "semantic index" of your data, including things like photos, files, calendar appointements, notes, links people have sent you, and more. When you make a request, it can identify items in that index that are relevant to what you're asking for. So, for example, you'd be able to ask it find the message where your mom sent you her flight details, whether it was in a text or an email. Or you could ask it about whether you'll have time to drive between two appointments, and it can look at your calendar, the relevant locations, and calculate the time to get between them. It can even retrieve information from pictures you've taken if, for example, you've taken a picture of your ID and need to enter details from it into a form on a website. In addition to all of that context, Siri will also be able to understand what's on your screen, so for example, if a friend sends you details about a party, you could tell Siri to add it to your calendar. On top of Siri understanding your personal data better, iOS 18.4 stands to unlock another powerful piece of functionality: the ability for the personal assistant to take actions for you in and across apps. This is powered by an existing framework called App Intents, which also integrates with platform features like Spotlight and Shortcuts; it allows third-party apps to tell the system about actions they can perform. For example, a camera app could advertise its ability to take a picture. Or a messaging app could offer the power to send a message. Or a mapping app could provide a way to kick off transit directions. Those actions can then be linked together: pull information from a note in the Notes app and have it sent via Messages, for example. Siri has been able to do this to some degree in the past, though it largely required manually creating a shortcut in advance and then triggering that shortcut with the voice assistant. However, what this new ability promises is for Siri to understand all the in-app actions available to it right off the bat, freeing up users from the cognitive overhead of having to create, in advance, shortcuts for whatever they want to do. Instead, you should just be able to tell Siri "send the note with my partner's flight times to them via Messages" and Siri just, well, does it. It's still possible that Apple could introduce personal context and in-app actions to Siri in iOS 18.4, as that software update is in beta and Apple's been known to add (and subtract) features during the beta process. But it's far more likely that when the final version of iOS 18.4 arrives, reportedly in April, these specific Siri improvements will still be MIA. Instead, start thinking about iOS 18.5. That's what Bloomberg's Mark Gurman is reporting now, with Siri's missing improvements apparently set to arrive in May. That's just ahead of the likely June date for Apple's annual developer conference, where we're all but certain to see a preview of iOS 19. And according to Gurman, that software update is going to bring an entirely new Siri architecture, though that same report suggests a modernized version of Siri won't be fully available for another two years. This final set of Apple Intelligence features are the last to arrive before Apple takes the wraps off iOS 19, and with good reason: they are both the most ambitious and the most difficult to implement. Personal context will require the synthesis of a tremendous amount of your data and sifting through all of that information will no doubt push Apple's machine learning models to their limits. As for in-app actions, while a powerful way of marshaling the capabilities of Apple's own built-in apps, it will require buy-in from third-party developers to go from being a tech demo to a feature that everybody will want to use. But the combination of those features aims to deliver on a promise first made at Siri's introduction more than a decade ago: a true virtual assistant that can take care of complex and onerous tasks for users. To date, people often spend more time trying to adapt themselves to Siri -- figuring out how to phrase queries to get the right response or even what they should bother asking it to do -- rather than Siri being able to adapt itself to people. If these improvements work as Apple intends ' and that is, based on the previous Apple Intelligence features the company has rolled out, rather a big if -- it could herald a new age for the virtual assistant, and bear out Apple's investment in AI technology by providing a feature that actually makes the lives of its customers better.

Apple's fully conversational Siri is still years away: Here's what we know

Apple Intelligence features are gradually being rolled out to eligible iPhones. While the most popular Conversational Siri was expected to be available with the upcoming iOS 18.4 update, Mark Gurman's latest Power On newsletter stated that Apple will release its new LLM-powered Siri with iOS 20. This comes after leaks indicated that the rollout had been delayed to iOS 19 due to technical issues. According to the report, Apple had planned to unveil a more natural and human-like Siri this year, but technical challenges have slowed development. Siri currently operates on two separate backends, one for simple tasks and another for complex ones. However, one of the iPhone 16 series' standout features was Siri's conversational and context-aware capabilities and it is still not here. Now, the reports suggest that it will no longer be part of the announcement anytime soon. Apple employees now think that a fully conversational Siri won't be available until iOS 20, which might be released in 2027, according to Mark Gurman's report. According to internal data cited by Gurman, users aren't using Apple's AI tools as expected. Many people believe the current feature set is lacking in depth, with some criticizing the company for prioritizing easier-to-develop features over game-changing innovations. Also read: iPhone 16 Pro available with over Rs 13,000 discount: Here's where you grab the deal Meanwhile, Apple is set to release iOS 18.4 and iOS 18.5 updates for users. However, the report stated that these updates will not significantly improve the existing iPhones in terms of Apple Intelligence features. Additionally, Apple's AI tools are expected to be refined with iOS 19 next year. It is unknown whether Apple will introduce a new set of AI features or not. However, it appears that iPhone users will have to wait longer for a smarter Siri and more advanced AI-powered features.

Here is why Apple may not update Siri until 2027

Apple is reportedly struggling to rebuild Siri for the generative AI era, with Bloomberg's Mark Gurman indicating that a truly modernized, conversational version of Siri may not be released until the launch of iOS 20 in 2027. Nevertheless, significant updates to Siri are expected before then, with a new version slated to debut in May. This update will finally incorporate features from Apple Intelligence, announced nearly a year prior. Gurman describes this iteration of Siri as operating with "two brains" -- one for traditional voice commands and another for advanced queries utilizing user data. The integration of these two systems, internally referred to as "LLM Siri," is anticipated for announcement at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, aiming for a launch by spring 2026. Only after this integration will Apple be poised to advance Siri's capabilities further. The introduction of Amazon's Alexa+ has highlighted Apple's shortcomings in AI, as the company finds itself at a critical juncture. Apple's challenges in enhancing Siri's AI capabilities have become apparent. Despite having initially launched Siri in 2011, the company has fallen behind in the rapidly advancing landscape of generative AI, which forms the basis for technologies like ChatGPT. An AI-driven Siri was showcased by Apple last June, portraying an advanced system capable of tailoring responses based on personal data. However, the actual implementation has been slow, leaving engineers with a monumental task to complete by May. Apple's suite of AI features, termed Apple Intelligence, has been gradually rolled out since October, encompassing tools such as writing aids, voicemail transcriptions, custom emojis, and an image manipulation app. However, many of these features lack substantial utility, resulting in low user engagement. Efforts to integrate OpenAI's ChatGPT into Apple's software have also faced criticism for their lack of depth and conversational fluidity. The Visual Intelligence feature, which is meant to provide information on real-world objects, falls short compared to established competitors like Google Lens. Additionally, notification summaries have experienced issues, including inaccuracies in breaking news alerts. As a result, features from Apple Intelligence are not compelling enough for users to warrant device upgrades. The company asserted that its sales are better in regions where AI features are available, but internal data suggests a lack of consumer engagement with these new offerings. Apple typically enters new markets after its competitors, although it often justifies its timing with superior offerings. The company is presently trailing behind established AI solutions from competitors like ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Microsoft's Copilot. Despite initial optimism surrounding its AI announcements, Apple has been unable to adequately keep pace with rivals, which poses serious risks to its market position. Preparations for the next version of Siri are critical for Apple. The current Siri, integrated into iOS 18, features two functional areas: one focused on traditional commands and the other designed for advanced queries driven by user data. However, the two systems' integration is yet incomplete, affecting overall performance. Plans for the iOS 19 update include further unifying these systems and introducing a new architecture, which could be first revealed at the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference. This new architecture is expected to enhance Siri's conversational capabilities but is projected to face delays. Internal assessments suggest that a fully modernized Siri will not be available until iOS 20 in 2027. This timeline places Apple significantly behind competitors already implementing advanced AI technologies. The urgency for technological advancement in AI has heightened, exacerbated by rapid developments from companies like OpenAI and Google, leaving Apple at a critical crossroads. Siri is finally catching up thanks to LLM-powered features Simultaneously, the company is encountering difficulties in securing adequate resources, notably AI accelerators from Nvidia, essential for model development. Consequently, Apple has commenced production of its AI servers while simultaneously working on enhancing its chip capacity. In response to current leadership and strategic needs, Apple has reassigned Kim Vorrath to the AI team, aiming to improve the trajectory of ongoing projects such as Siri. Additionally, John Giannandrea continues to oversee AI initiatives amid questions regarding leadership changes necessary to address the company's competitive deficits in AI. Despite these challenges, Apple maintains that its deep integration of hardware and software positions it favorably against competitors. Yet, the rapid advancements in AI pose substantial threats, suggesting that Apple's dominance is under potential jeopardy if it cannot evolve effectively within this new technological landscape. In another development, Apple announced a $500 billion investment in the U.S., coinciding with a broader engagement with the Trump administration, aimed at bolstering goodwill and reducing potential regulatory burdens. However, questions persist regarding the actual implementation and implications of this investment plan. Furthermore, stock shortages of the iPad Air are appearing ahead of a forthcoming refresh, with reports indicating that the new M4 MacBook Air is set for a near-term launch. The entry-level iPad is also likely to receive updates alongside the iPad Air, while no significant updates for the iPad Pro are anticipated until the M5 chip becomes available. Lastly, amidst pressures regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, Apple has reaffirmed its commitment to these efforts despite trends among other tech companies to scale back. The company rejected a recent shareholder proposal to abolish its DEI program, indicating a continued focus on fostering an inclusive workplace culture. Looking ahead, the upcoming releases of iOS 18.4 and iOS 18.5 are anticipated to include several incremental enhancements. However, the rollout of the promised AI capabilities may still face delays, including the anticipated new Siri version. Apple's new iPhone 16e debuted on February 28 but witnessed a lackluster response at retail locations, indicating a cautious market reception. Although long-term sales potential remains uncertain, the pricing of the 16e suggests it occupies a challenging segment in the smartphone market, competing with both budget and premium models.

Conversational Siri has to be spectacularly good if we won't get it until 2027

One of the odder aspects of Apple's history is that the company has gone in 14 years from one of the leaders in intelligent assistants to one of the biggest laggards. We've gone from the futuristic-feeling Siri way back in 2011 to a painfully inadequate-feeling Apple Intelligence in 2025 .... I can still remember the keynote presentation for the iPhone 4S, where Siri was the reason I had to rush out and buy one. Apple didn't create Siri: it first debuted as a third-party iPhone app. But it was Steve Job's decision to buy the tech and integrate it into the iPhone that brought it into the public eye and made an intelligent assistant such an integral part of what we now expect from a smartphone. Fourteen years should have given Apple plenty of time to turn Siri into a phenomenally powerful assistant, and yet ... that hasn't happened. Back in 2015, I outlined the future capabilities I'd like to see, including giving it the ability to interact with our apps. It's taken a full decade for Apple to even begin providing this feature! What's even wilder to me is that in 2018 I created a list of really basic things Siri still couldn't do, and it still can't do several of these things today! Today, Siri looks like a Lada while ChatGPT and its peers are Mercedes. Apple does, however, have a couple of excuses for failing to match the performance of today's LLMs. First, reliability. OpenAI, Google, and others took the "move fast and break things" approach to AI. When ChatGPT and Google Bard were still new, I highlighted their ability to get things spectacularly wrong. For example, when asked to help write a scientific paper, ChatGPT simply made up non-existent references. Google's Bard even gave the wrong answer to a question during a live demo of how clever it was. I made the point then that Siri's spoken responses made this sort of error even more dangerous. If there's one thing more dangerous than not knowing something important, it's asking for the information and being given the wrong answer with great confidence. When a Google search shows you conventional results next to a chat window answering the same question, it's very easy for the company to include prominent warnings that the chat answer may not be accurate. But Siri is designed to provide spoken answers to verbal questions. Even more annoying than Siri 'answering' a question with "Here's what I found on the web," would be "Here's a lengthy answer which you first have to listen to, then I'll note that it may not be correct, and recommend that you search the web." The other huge factor here is privacy. Siri has always operated according to two fundamental privacy-respecting principles: On-device processing can never be as smart as processing done by powerful machines in data centers, and ensuring a Siri server doesn't know who you are also hampers its ability to be as smart as a Google server that has access to your search history to know a million things about you. I argued last year that while the wait for LLM Siri is frustrating, the privacy payoff will be worth it in the long run. A massive amount of the personal data needed to allow Siri to be a truly intelligent and helpful intelligent assistant is stored right there on our own devices, in Apple Calendar, Contacts, Files, Health, Mail, Maps, Messages, Wallet and so on. We will also have the option to grant Siri access to the specific third-party apps we choose, again right there on our own devices. Once Siri is able to access those apps, then it can finally become every bit as powerful as competing systems - while still protecting our privacy. Long-term, that's the AI future I want: an assistant which knows a great deal about my life so it can act like a human PA, but only on my devices with my permission. That's the LLM Siri Apple is building, and while I'd love to have those capabilities right now, I do think the wait will be worth it. I wrote that when conversational Siri was expected to launch in early 2026, which already felt like a long wait. But the latest word from Bloomberg is that the launch has now been pushed back to 2027 - and maybe even later! Gurman says that employees within Apple's AI division now believe that a more conversational version of Siri won't reach consumers until iOS 20 'at best'. Two things are universally true about anything for which we have to wait a long time. One, the wait is painful, and feels like forever. Two, once it's over, the joy of obtaining it means we soon forget the pain of the delay. Fast-forward to a future when conversational Siri is on our phones, then if it truly lives up to expectations, and finally delivers the level of smarts we really want, then this will be true. We'll roll our eyes about how long it took Apple to get there, but all will be forgiven. But that length of delay dramatically increases expectations of what 2027 Siri needs to be. Just think about what ChatGPT and Claude and Gemini and Llama and DeepSeek will be able to do by then! Think about Amazon's new conversational Alexa, and what that will be capable of with another two years of development, using all of the data the company has amassed about the requests people are making of it. Siri will no longer be judged against the capabilities of today's chatbots, it will be judged against the ones we'll have two years from now. That's going to be a phenomenally high bar, and Apple really needs to reach it.

Apple Delays Siri's Major AI Update Until 2027: Reports

Apple's competitors include OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Microsoft's Copilot. Apple's planned upgrade to Siri has been delayed until at least 2027, as reported by Bloomberg. The company's Apple Intelligence suite was introduced last year. Notably, Apple has plans to improve Siri with iOS 19 in 2026, but a fully competitive AI system may not be ready until 2027 or later. According to the report, internal data shows that real-world usage of Apple's AI offerings are extremely low. Amazon's Alexa+ offers a highly personalised and conversational AI assistant. Powered by Anthropic Claude, it will be available for free to Prime members. Alexa+ can understand and respond naturally to users. It processes half-formed thoughts, colloquial expressions, and complex ideas. Amazon said that conversations with Alexa+ will feel more like speaking with a trusted assistant than a machine. Apple's competitors include OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Microsoft's Copilot. Last week, Apple announced plans to invest over $500 billion in the United States over the next four years. The investment will support artificial intelligence (AI), silicon engineering, manufacturing, and workforce development across multiple states, including Michigan, Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada, Iowa, Oregon, North Carolina, and Washington. Apple also unveiled its first custom-designed modem chip last week, along with the iPhone SE announcement, a move set to reduce the company's reliance on Qualcomm and reshape the landscape of wireless technology integration in its devices. For years, Apple relied on Qualcomm for modem chips, which other players also use. This shift indicates a new direction for Apple's hardware strategy.

Apple's Long-Promised AI-Enhanced Siri May Be Delayed Even Longer

Apple's next WWDC could be a repeat of 2024, with talk of upcoming Siri capabilities in iOS 19. Apple has yet to set a firm date for the launch of its Apple Intelligence-enhanced Siri. That’s for a good reason, as new reports from trusted Apple leakers suggest AI-capable Siri won’t be here any time soon. Perhaps a longer delay will be good for Appleâ€"and more importantlyâ€"Apple users. Apple’s slow rollout of Apple Intelligence started in October, though we have yet to see any chatbot capabilities close to software like Google’s Gemini. In a new report, Bloomberg’s Apple guru Mark Gurman wrote that iOS 19â€"set to debut at WWDC 2025 this summerâ€"could roll out the new Siri, but that software won’t launch until spring 2026. Gurman speculated this could be a part of iOS 19.4. The Bloomberg reporter relies on a host of internal and external sources, and he has a fair track record on Apple's release timing. Siri’s conversational capabilities will supposedly be akin to Google’s Gemini Live. This “LLM Siri,†as it's been dubbed in recent reports, is still many months away. Meanwhile, on Monday, Google just debuted new capabilities that let its AI respond to users' video and screen content in real time. The Cupertino, California tech giant could still surprise us. However, Apple needs to combine its aging Siri architecture with modern AI software. That’s proving difficult, according to Gurman. The true, conversational Siri may not be around until 2027. Worse, iOS 19 may not include any big changes to Apple’s AI. That may seem like Apple is missing out on the latest trend, but I see something different at work. Perhaps Apple can focus on making a phone that doesn’t have to rely on energy-hungry AI. The last few iOS updates have enabled Apple Intelligence for all iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 users, eating up more and more storage on users’ devices. This is despite a recent survey reporting few Apple buyers are getting the company’s latest iPhones for the sake of Apple Intelligence. Perhaps, Apple will go against its instincts and try to enable other AI models on its platform other than just ChatGPT. Recent code leaks suggest Apple could even allow Gemini onto iPhones by default, though this will likely be as limited as OpenAI's integration with Siri. The rumors arrive less than a week after Amazon debuted its Alexa+ platform. The online retail giant’s system uses a host of AI models integrated onto its Echo Show products with an all new, AI-enhanced UI. This allows users to order products, set up smart home routines, search for music or movie content, and look at their connected security cameras, all using conversational language. It was impressive, but all the company’s demos took place in a closed ecosystem, and we have yet to see these capabilities outside an Amazon event. Alexa+ may be useful for those who have filled their home with Amazon products (especially for those who don’t mind the massive privacy implications of Amazon software). Amazon is also going to rely on a website and app to keep users connected to their smart home AI. Apple only has to stick it on iPhones, MacBooks, and other devices like the Vision Pro to engender usage. The problem is, Apple has to make users give a damn about a chatbot that can make a calendar event from your emails. Every major tech company has promised some variety of AI-enabled assistant, but the software’s usability has fallen short of the mark. Google’s Gemini on the latest Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S25 is capable of accessing your emails and performing some cross-app tasks, though not in any way that truly changes how you use your phone. Apple’s rendition of AI features its creepy Image Playground, pointless AI emojis, and hilarious notification summaries. The company removed those summaries with the latest iOS beta. I would rather my iPhone improve with time in significant ways that don’t all rely on AI enhancements. I may not need a thinner iPhone, like the rumored iPhone 17 Air, but I’m sure I and others would appreciate a better refresh rate on base iPhone models. One problem is price. The iPhone 16e, which is built for Apple Intelligence as much as the regular iPhone 16, starts at $600. That’s nowhere near as budget-friendly as the last-gen iPhone SE. It’s only going to get harder to justify price bumps if we won’t see any real AI capabilities for months or even years.

iOS 18.5 could solve two of Apple's biggest AI problems

Apple is currently beta testing iOS 18.4, and it's packed with a lot of big and small new features. But per Mark Gurman, iOS 18.5 is set to solve Apple's biggest AI problems with two new features: major Siri upgrades and AI support in China. Anyway, the follow-up release, iOS 18.5, is where the good stuff is supposed to wind up. It has the AI-infused Siri that the company showed off last June, as well as support for Apple Intelligence in China. Typically, a point update so late in an iOS release cycle won't have many notable new features. Siri changes will enable Apple's assistant to do all the things that were demoed last year at WWDC, and that many users had expected to be available already -- since Apple already promoted them in ads. For example, Siri will support hundreds of new in-app and cross-app actions. This will make it far more powerful than before, letting you perform many actions by voice that you previously needed to open an app for. On-screen awareness is another upgrade coming. It lets Siri understand what you're looking at on your device and perform actions based on items on-screen. Finally, Siri will also understand your personal context. This means Siri will be able to behave much more like a human assistant. Ask it questions about your previous meetings, texts or emails you were sent, places you've been recently, and so on, and Siri will be able to answer those questions with true intelligence about your life. Apple has been making Siri changes gradually in its recent updates, but iOS 18.5 should finally get us to the point where it feels like the "new era for Siri" has actually arrived. #2: Apple Intelligence in China The majority of our readers may not be impacted by this, but Apple Intelligence's arrival in China will address one of Apple's biggest current problems. With fierce competition from local smartphone makers, all of whom offer their own AI support, bringing Apple Intelligence to China has become an urgent necessity for Apple. iPhone sales in China have been struggling recently, but Tim Cook told investors not to worry. Part of his case for optimism was that Apple Intelligence had not yet launched in the region, and iPhone sales have performed stronger where AI features are available. So naturally, the arrival of Apple Intelligence support in iOS 18.5 should -- assuming existing trends hold -- help boost sales in one of Apple's most important markets. iOS 18.5 release timing and wrap-up Currently, Mark Gurman expects Apple to ship iOS 18.5 with these new features some time in May. Though with iOS 18.4 coming not long before in early April, it's very possible that it could slip into early June instead. The important thing is for Apple to get it out the door before WWDC 2025 kicks off. Do you expect iOS 18.5 to make a big impact on users? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments.

My dream AI MacBook may be delayed until 2027 thanks to Apple Intelligence

Table of Contents Table of Contents A problem for Mac users Better late than never? Artificial intelligence (AI) is experiencing explosive growth at the moment, with everyone in the tech world seemingly trying to get in on the action. That includes Apple, but it's no secret that the company's Apple Intelligence platform is struggling to compete with the likes of ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot. Yet we've just had some news that could make that situation even worse, especially for Mac users. That's because Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman has just claimed that some key Apple Intelligence features won't be available until 2026 or even 2027, putting the dream of a powerful AI-powered MacBook firmly on the backburner. Recommended Videos For instance, Gurman says that Apple is working on a large language model (LLM) that will power Siri and will be called, appropriately enough, "LLM Siri." This project means merging Siri's "two brains" -- the legacy and advanced systems -- into one AI tool. Gurman says that LLM Siri could be announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June this year. Yet he also believes that it won't actually launch until iOS 19.4 drops in spring 2026, meaning a long wait to get many of the capabilities that are already standard across the AI industry. And it could actually end up being worse than that. Adding an LLM to Siri would allow Apple Intelligence to be conversational in the way tools like ChatGPT are and put a huge range of powers at your fingertips. But Gurman says that this aspect of LLM Siri is way behind schedule and won't be announced at WWDC 2025 at all. In fact, Gurman says that "people within Apple's AI division now believe that a true modernized, conversational version of Siri won't reach consumers until iOS 20 at best in 2027." Considering the breakneck speed of development in the AI industry, that's a lifetime away. As Gurman puts it, "That would mean Apple is a half-decade late to the game -- an even bleaker timeline than many of us imagined." A problem for Mac users This is a problem for all Apple fans who are interested in the company's AI efforts, but it's particularly impactful for Mac users. I'd argue that most people do their most serious work on the Mac, not on an iPhone. That means Apple's Mac AI efforts have to be strong for the workloads they'll help with -- the data analyzing, video encoding, and machine learning tasks that are typically performed more on Macs than iPhones. These are all areas that could benefit from an AI injection, alongside more lightweight tasks like writing emails and finding answers to your queries. So far, though, Apple Intelligence on the Mac is far from that level. Its main elements are uncomplicated text rewriting and basic image generation, and it's not anywhere near living up to its potential. Sure, it's integrated with ChatGPT, which puts a much more powerful AI at your disposal. But why would you settle for having to go through Apple Intelligence when you could just use the much more powerful ChatGPT Mac app or the recently launched Copilot app on Mac? Apple is yet to offer a truly compelling use case for Apple Intelligence on the Mac, and with these purported delays, that situation could persist well into the future. It's a frustrating situation, and I'd love for Apple Intelligence on the Mac to fulfil its potential. Imagine a fully personalised AI assistant that can help you with your daily work while still keeping your private data secure. It could be even better than its competitors due to Apple's tight integration of its hardware and software, whizzing files back and forth between your devices without a hitch. That's the promise for Apple Intelligence on the Mac, but the reality is far, far away from that. With the large language model portion of Apple Intelligence being delayed for what could be years, it's a very uncertain outlook for that AI MacBook ideal. Apple's rivals have moved so fast that it's hard to predict what they'll be serving up by 2027 -- but it feels increasingly likely that Apple Intelligence will feel like a very distant second when that day rolls around. Better late than never? Being late doesn't have to be a disaster for Apple. The company has long sought to be best, not necessarily first, after all. Just look at the Apple Watch -- other companies had been making similar devices for years by the time it went on sale in 2015, but it's unquestionably the best smartwatch money can buy right now. When Apple gets it right, being late is inconsequential. But AI is unusual because things are moving so incredibly quickly. The risk is that Apple ends up launching features that are already outdated by the time they're announced. Its rivals could get so far ahead that they can't be caught. Apple needs to act fast, and that might mean internal changes and serious shakeups. The good news is that if anyone has the resources to do that, it's Apple. Now the company just needs to throw everything it's got at overcoming its present and future hurdles. There's an awful lot at stake.

Apple's next-gen Siri might be delayed until 2027

With iOS 18's Siri features pushed back to May, the 'true modernized, conversational version' is unlikely to be ready in time for its planned WWDC launch. It was hoped that the launch of Apple Intelligence would give the company's Siri voice assistant a much-needed upgrade. But almost nine months on from the announcement of this plan, there's no sign of its arrival-and further delays are now hindering Apple's attempts to compete in the AI arena. In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman builds on a prediction he made last month: that the new Apple Intelligence-powered version of Siri isn't likely to be released until iOS 18.5 in May, an astonishing 11 months after it was unveiled at WWDC 2024. At the time Gurman cited bugs and features that still don't work consistently. But the article adds further bad news. Whereas the new version of Siri forms (a surprisingly late) part of the iOS 18 release cycle, a more radical shakeup is slated as part of iOS 19, and this one faces major delays too. Known internally as LLM Siri, this will be built from the ground up around Apple Intelligence. (The upcoming version of Siri, Gurman says, is a grafted-together hybrid system with "two brains" that handle legacy commands and AI functions separately.) Aside from this new architecture, iOS 19 Siri was planned to feature a "more conversational approach," but this has hit developmental obstacles and won't be included when the other elements of iOS 19 Siri are announced at WWDC 25 this June. This was always likely when AI Siri first started struggling. Resources have to be pulled from longer-term projects to fight fires in the short term, and that means a cascade of delays stretching into the future. And Gurman thinks it's going to get worse before it gets better. "People within Apple's AI division now believe that a true modernized, conversational version of Siri won't reach consumers until iOS 20 at best in 2027," he writes. With other companies hurrying to hone their own AI offerings, Apple faces a struggle to remain relevant. No wonder Gurman calls this "an even bleaker timeline than many of us imagined."

Apple delays Siri AI improvements to 2026

When unveiling Apple Intelligence last summer, one of Apple's flashiest demos showed the Siri voice assistant juggling several apps to help a user plan a lunch after landing from a flight. Those capabilities won't be coming anytime soon. Apple on Friday announced that it is delaying the features that would supercharge Siri with the ability to take action other apps until next year. That feature was expected to be released this spring. Another Siri improvement that is also being delayed would have allowed it to take advantage of what Apple calls "personal context." For example, Siri would be able to fill out forms on users' behalf with their personal information based on their driver's license numbers taken from a photo. "We've also been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps," an Apple representative said in a statement. "It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year." The delay highlights some of the challenges Apple faces developing a next-generation voice assistant that uses cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology to be more useful and conversational. The pressure has heightened since the arrival of OpenAI's ChatGPT that launched in late 2022 and ushered in the era of generative AI. Besides OpenAI, Apple risks falling behind rivals including Amazon, which announced an upgraded Alexa voice assistant last month but hasn't released it, and Google, which is developing similar capabilities with its Gemini assistant. But all consumer voice assistants have had issues with incorrect answers and task automation. Many Apple devices have already received some Siri upgrades if they support Apple Intelligence, including more conversational capabilities, a new look that makes the entire phone screen glow and integration with ChatGPT. Apple Intelligence also includes features that can generate text or images, edit photographs and summarize notifications. Those features are currently available on newer iPhones. The delay to Siri's supercharged features aren't Apple's first run-in with issues adapting to new-age AI. Earlier this year, the company disabled Apple Intelligence summaries for news apps like The New York Times and BBC after users discovered that the AI system had twisted headlines to display inaccurate facts. Apple is also counting on its army of app developers will lay the groundwork for its next-generation Siri assistant by developing chunks of code Apple calls "app intents." That code is intended to allow the AI-enhanced Siri to use functions within their apps. While developers can currently build and test app intents, they won't be able to see how they work in Siri until Apple releases a beta version of the upgraded assistant. Apple typically announces major new software features in June, at its WWDC conference.

AI-powered 'more personalized Siri' is delayed | TechCrunch

Apple is delaying the rollout of the "more personalized Siri" experience it promised as part of its rollout of Apple Intelligence. According to a statement from the tech giant published on Friday by Apple blog Daring Fireball, the company admits it will "take us longer than we thought to deliver" on these new Siri features. Apple now anticipates rolling them out in the "coming year." Announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference last year, the new, more personalized Siri was meant to upgrade the beleaguered digital assistant with the ability to understand your personal context, like your relationships, your communications, your routine, and more, CEO Tim Cook said at the time. He called the upgrade not just artificial intelligence, but personal intelligence, hyping it as the "next big step for Apple." In addition, the Siri update would make the service more useful by giving it the ability to take action for you within and across your apps. The announcement comes at a time when Apple is seemingly falling behind on AI, critics argue, which has made Siri appear even less capable when compared with modern-day AI assistants like ChatGPT. Recently, users have reported Siri reporting basic facts incorrectly, leading some, like technology investor M.G. Siegler, to wonder if it was time to shut off Siri altogether or swap it out (instead of only augment it) with ChatGPT.

Apple confirms delay for AI-enhanced Siri

Why it matters: Apple was already later to generative AI than other big tech companies when it unveiled its highly personalized Apple Intelligence approach AI last year -- and the new delay raises fresh doubts about its competitiveness in the field. Driving the news: In a statement shared with Axios, the company said: "It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year." Yes, but: The ability for Siri to understand sophisticated queries and find answers from users' personal data was among the most compelling elements of its Apple Intelligence strategy. The big picture: Microsoft and Google continue to integrate AI features across their product lines, while Amazon, also late to integrate generative AI, recently unveiled Alexa+, an AI-enhanced version of Alexa to be made available to paid subscribers and Amazon Prime members.

Apple Is Pushing Back AI-Driven Siri Features to 2026, Report Says

CEO Tim Cook previously suggested a "more capable" Siri would launch this year. Apple (AAPL) plans to push back the launch of certain AI-driven Siri features until 2026, including one that would allow the voice assistant to perform tasks within other apps. Developing these features is "going to take us longer than we thought," an Apple spokesperson said Friday, according to CNBC. "We anticipate rolling them out in the coming year." In January, CEO Tim Cook suggested an "even more capable" Siri would launch this year. Apple Intelligence, the company's suite of artificial intelligence tools, was designed in part to supercharge Siri, and in-app capabilities were discussed at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2024. Now, users may have to wait longer for that feature, as well as one that would allow Siri to assist users in filling out forms, such as by pulling information from photos of documents, the report said. Apple has touted Apple Intelligence as a driver of record iPhone upgrades, with the new iPhone 16 performing better in markets where the service is available. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Shares of Apple edged 1.6% higher to close at $239.07 Friday, and have added about 40% in the past year.

Apple Intelligence Siri Faces Yet Another Crisis As Major Features Get Delayed To 2026, Highlighting Apple's Ongoing Struggles To Keep Up In The Rapidly Evolving AI Race

When Apple released iOS 18 last year, it stated that some of the Apple Intelligence features would be made available to users in 2025. The sum of features included the new Siri experience with Apple Intelligence, and it appears that the company is now delaying them until next year, which only goes on to show how behind the company is in generative AI development. An Apple spokesperson states in an interview with Daring Fireball that it will take the company even longer to release the highly anticipated personalized Siri experience. It was initially believed that Apple would offer the new Siri functionality with the release of iOS 18.4, and soon before the beta of the build was released to developers, we got to know that the company had delayed the feature until iOS 18.5. While we were anticipating the feature to arrive in May of this year, the latest information claims that it will be rolled out "in the coming year." "Siri helps our users find what they need and get things done quickly, and in just the past six months, we've made Siri more conversational, introduced new features like type to Siri and product knowledge, and added an integration with ChatGPT. We've also been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps. It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year." If you are unfamiliar with the functionality, the personalized Siri experience will allow Siri to understand personal context, have on-screen awareness, and feature deeper in-app integration. It is one of the biggest upgrades Siri will receive, enabling it to better compete against the likes of ChatGPT and Google Assistant. At this stage, Apple is running far behind in the race to offer premium AI features, as companies like Samsung and Google have excelled quite a bit. The company has also removed its ad from YouTube associated with the feature. Apple is in an AI crisis, especially in the Siri division, and it has been working with developers and engineers to ready the new functionality for a while. Apple's delays in rolling out AI features will reflect on the company's credibility and might not sit well with investors either. Apart from the interview, a new report published by Reuters also suggests that the highly anticipated Siri experience with Apple Intelligence has been delayed until 2026. Apple's delay could also reflect on the forthcoming iOS 19 features, which would likely be delayed as well, and the cycle will continue until the company does something about it. Do you think Apple will manage to release the Apple Intelligence Siri this year before it seeds the first beta of iOS 19 to developers at the WWDC event?

What went wrong with Apple Intelligence Siri development? - 9to5Mac

On Friday, Apple officially delayed the release of its promised iOS 18 Siri features. Those features, including personal context, on-screen awareness, and in-app actions, will now release "in the coming year." We had already received hints that these features would be delayed, but now we know for sure. This leaves the question, what went wrong? Apple's statement never gave a clear answer. The company said said that it's going to take longer than it thought, but never cited any specific reasons for the delays. However, some insights from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman give us some potential answers for what went wrong. While developing new Siri features for iOS 18, Apple didn't have the time to create one unified backend for handling all Siri requests. As a result, theres two systems, one for legacy commands, and one for more advanced ones. That complicates development, per Bloomberg: The current iOS 18 version of Siri essentially has two brains: one that operates the legacy Siri commands, like timers and making calls, and another that handles more advanced queries. The latter capability will be able to tap user data and already is used to not get confused when people change their request mid-command. In order to get Apple Intelligence out the door as part of iOS 18, the company didn't have time to meld the two systems together. That means the software doesn't work as smoothly as it could. Apple plans to release a unified system for iOS 19, but obviously that doesn't do anything for the iOS 18 features that it promised. Given Apple's usage of "in the coming year" rather than "in the coming months", this likely means that the company wants to wait on the new Siri backend in iOS 19 to release these more advanced features. Additionally, Bloomberg reports that development for these new features hasn't necessarily gone smoothly, as one could assume. The report describes Apple engineers as "racing to fix a rash of bugs", and states that engineers believe the features won't be ready until next year at the earliest, likely iOS 19.3 or later. Apple software executive Craig Federighi also voiced concerns over the features, in their current form, not aligning with how Apple had marketed them to work: In the lead-up to the latest delay, software chief Craig Federighi and other executives voiced strong concerns internally that the features didn't work properly -- or as advertised -- in their personal testing, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters. Lastly, some Apple employees question whether or not the AI teams need better leadership, and that the company will continue to fall behind without a change in leadership: Apple employees are questioning whether Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook or the company's board needs to take action to change the leadership of the AI group. They believe that, short of major changes, Apple will continue to fall behind. Overall, Apple is facing a heap of technical challenges headed into this, and the company likely would've been better off not rushing into the AI craze. I'm sure the allegedly poor leadership isn't helping the teams as well.

Gurman: 'More conversational' Siri upgrade in iOS 19 running behind schedule, more - 9to5Mac

According to the latest edition of the Power On newsletter, Apple is facing multiple major hiccups in its AI rollout. While that isn't a surprise, it does mean that many of its roadmapped features are being delayed, and technical challenges are resulting in certain features, including the 'more conversational' Siri update - shipping later. Late last year, Gurman reported that Apple was working on an all new 'LLM Siri' for iOS 19. This system would merge the two backends for Siri that we currently have today, into one new and unified architecture. Currently, Siri has two entirely separate backends: one for simpler requests and one for more complex requests. Luckily, 'LLM Siri' and its new architecture is still on track to launch with iOS 19. However, it was supposed to be accompanied by a more conversational approach, something more like ChatGPT. Gurman says that is running behind schedule, and will no longer be unveiled in June. Furthermore, Gurman says that employees within Apple's AI division now believe that a more conversational version of Siri won't reach consumers until iOS 20 'at best'. As for the three Siri features anticipated to debut in iOS 18, Gurman says Apple is still on track to release these features in May with iOS 18.5. Gurman reports that internal Apple data indicates that real world usage of Apple Intelligence is 'extremely low'. This would suggest that the current feature set isn't necessarily resonating with consumers. Despite that, Gurman reports that Apple Intelligence might not necessarily include many improvements in iOS 19: Everything I've heard suggests that iOS 19 will not include any significant consumer-facing changes to Apple Intelligence. A big reason for that is the amount of time Apple is still spending working to get the features announced last year out the door. It's challenging to move on to next year's release before this year's operating system updates have rolled out to customers. This is quite disappointing, but it makes sense given how far behind they are when it comes to releasing its promised Siri improvements. If this report holds up, this means we won't see meaningful new Apple Intelligence features until iOS 20 debuts in June of 2027.

Siri's real AI upgrade could still be years away

Wes Davis is a weekend editor who covers the latest in tech and entertainment. He has written news, reviews, and more as a tech journalist since 2020. Apple Intelligence was supposed to finally deliver a more natural version of Siri, but now, people who work in Apple's AI department believe the company won't release a "true modernized, conversational version of Siri ... until iOS 20 at best in 2027," writes Bloomberg's Mark Gurman in today's Power On newsletter. Apple is expected to roll out an LLM-powered Siri upgrade in iOS 18.5, but Gurman says this will work as its own separate model from the old Siri, a system that "doesn't work as smoothly as it could." According to Gurman, the modernized Siri would merge the two into a new architecture that can handle both simple requests, like setting timers, and the advanced AI-powered abilities Apple showed off last year, like carrying out tasks across apps using context like personal details and what's on your screen. Apple planned to introduce this combined Siri architecture in iOS 19.4, but it's "running behind" and "won't be unveiled in June," when the company usually holds WWDC, Gurman writes. Amazon reportedly struggled with its own AI assistant upgrade of Alexa; Amazon head of Devices and Services Panos Panay told my colleague Jennifer Tuohy that the new Alexa Plus system has involved a "hundred percent re-architected" system that blends the old Alexa with the new. That's now coming in early access soon, though only to certain devices. Apple is on the same path but with extra challenges. Gurman reports that people in Apple's AI department say its models "are reaching their limits," but the company has had a hard time securing the AI training hardware it needs to improve things. At the same time, he writes that the department has been plagued by "ineffective leadership" and workers defecting to rivals, all while those rivals seem to be pushing farther and farther ahead.

Apple's big AI overhaul for Siri might take until 2027 to arrive

Apple's progress with bringing AI to its hardware hasn't exactly hit the same notes as the progress it has made with computing and wearable endeavors. As competitors such as Google and Microsoft have pushed ahead with deep integration of generative AI tools across their software stack, Siri has remained a laggard. It seems Siri's planned AI overhaul could extend well into 2027, as per Bloomberg. "People involved in Apple's AI work say its foundational and large language models -- the basis for its homegrown AI features -- are reaching their limits," says the report. Recommended Videos That doesn't bode well for the future of Siri, and it's promised AI rebirth. The digital assistant currently runs into a dual-architecture format. The first one covers the legacy capabilities, while the other one is all about generative AI smarts, such as those offered by ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Apple is reportedly planning to integrate these two parts into a single cohesive unit with the arrival of iOS 19. Given Apple's history, it will be showcased first at its developers conference at some point in June this year, and will reportedly arrive with the iOS 19.4 update in 2026's Spring season. Please enable Javascript to view this content That's a long wait already, but the development work goes beyond that. At the moment, the company is internally working on an unreleased project called "LLM Siri" that will merge the two digital assistant architectures for Siri. However, that plan is reportedly running behind schedule. "That's why people within Apple's AI division now believe that a true modernized, conversational version of Siri won't reach consumers until iOS 20 at best in 2027," says the report. The Bloomberg report mentions that iOS 19 won't ship with any major enhancements to the Apple Intelligence stack. So far, Siri has relied on ChatGPT to handle tasks that are usually deputed to a generative AI chatbot, such as Google Alexa or Microsoft Copilot, both of which have replaced legacy products such as Google Assistant and Cortana. However, there is a lot more ground to cover. Amazon has also moved ahead with a mighty impressive upgrade with the new Alexa+ assistant. The situation with Siri feels more like a modern relic. Apple's AI-powered news summaries are a mess. The summarized notifications are also a hit or miss. There is just not enough native "AI" in the Siri or Apple Intelligence bundle to stand out. On top of that, AI chip shortage, talent poaching, slow development, and ineffective leadership have only worsened the situation. "Moreover, the AI industry is advancing so quickly that the team's work is often obsolete by the time it's ready to unveil, employees say," adds the report. Apple has made some progress, too, inking deals with Chinese AI giants, Alibaba and Baidu, to speed things up. Those plans, however, are more about pushing Apple Intelligence in China, than actually ramping up the overall development of Siri and the overarching AI ecosystem. It would be a monumental challenge for Apple in the coming years to not only get competitive, but also catch up with the rivals that are already far ahead.

Siri may only get minor Apple Intelligence improvements before iOS 19 | AppleInsider

Siri has gained a new animation around the edge of iPhone screens but real improvements are much delayed A new report claims that certain Apple Intelligence improvements to Siri have been delayed to May 2025, and that may take until 2027 before there is a significant update. Siri was supposed to adopt Apple Intelligence features from iOS 18.4, but following rumors of delays, the first developer beta of that shipped without any Siri changes. It's possible that the improvements will come in later rounds of the iOS 18.4 beta testing, but Bloomberg now says Apple is far behind on its AI plans. The new claim is that Siri will now get the promised integration with Apple Intelligence in May 2025. This first round of improvements was seeming meant to be the one where, as in Apple's now months-old ads, a user could ask Siri the name of someone they met before and it would read their calendar for the answer. It's not at all clear whether that type of feature will come in May, and there's reason to doubt it since the report further says that Siri is for now remaining an unfinished hybrid of its old and new systems. So the Siri of old that could search the web, set timers and so on is said to be existing alongside the new, more AI-based system. That fits with how in iOS 18.4 Siri will, with permission, pass user requests to ChatGPT -- but fruitlessly. Siri is also now noticeably worse at its old strengths in the developer beta of iOS 18.4. Reportedly, Apple plans to properly merge the two strands of Siri into a single system, but it now won't do that until a version of iOS 19 that's due in Spring 2026. More, it's possible that there will not be any new user-facing Apple Intelligence features in any iteration of iOS 19. That's because the expectation now is that Apple will still be trying to get its initial Apple Intelligence promises working. If true, that means there will be solely behind-the-scenes improvements to Apple Intelligence until at least mid-2026 and quite possibly into 2027. For WWDC 2025, Apple had also been expected to show off a more conversational form of Siri. That, too, is no longer believed to be ready by June and will have to be announced later. The report posits that these delays Apple is already far behind its competitors, and in particular is being trounced by Amazon with its yet to launch updated Alexa.

Apple Delays Major AI Features In iOS 19 As Revamped LLM Siri Is Now Pushed To iOS 20 With No WWDC Reveal This Year

Apple has big plans for Siri and its AI features, but it appears that the task is more cumbersome than the company had originally presumed. It was previously reported that the company will introduce a plethora of new AI features with the release of iOS 19 later this year, which includes Apple Intelligence upgrades, as well as Siri enhancements. It is now being reported that Apple has delayed major iOS 19 features, and there are no definite release timeframes available. We have previously reported that Apple is working on an advanced version of Siri which will feature a more conversational style compared to the current version, The LLM Siri was initially believed to be available in 2026 with iOS 19.4 release. In his latest Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman claims that the company is running behind schedule when it comes to the development of the new Siri experience and major iOS 19 features. Gurman also believes that Apple will not announce the new conversational Siri with a large language model at its WWDC event in June this year, which brings us to question whether the company will release it with iOS 19 or not. The feature was presumed to arrive with iOS 19.4 or iOS 19.5 at best, but based on the latest report, Apple could make it part of iOS 20. Gurman did say that some Apple software engineers believe within the company that revamped Siri will arrive with iOS 20 in 2026. Apple is struggling to keep up with the likes of ChatGPT and the overall generative AI features introduced in the industry. However, this does not mean that Siri will not receive any upgrades this year, as the analyst believes that Siri will get under-the-hood upgrades, which will allow the digital assistant to handle complex queries. Apple is familiar with its slow developmental pace, as it has introduced ChatGPT integration with Siri in iOS 18.2. This will allow users to make use of the advanced generative AI assistant until Siri is fully equipped and capable. Apple was also planning to bring a slew of new features with the release of iOS 18.5, which includes on-screen awareness, understanding personal context, and deeper in-app integration. The update was speculated to arrive with iOS 18.4, but the company is facing overall delays and it is evident in the current software developments as well. We will share more details on iOS 19 and Siri upgrades, so be sure to keep an eye out.