It Looks Like Siri Won't Be Getting Better Anytime Soon
Apple was early to the voice assistant market when it first introduced Siri in 2011 with the iPhone 4S. But over the last decade and a half, Siri has stayed stagnant while its competitors have leapfrogged it. Amazon's Alexa and Google's Assistant have become the gold standards when it comes to voice assistants, while Siri has become a laughingstock.
Anyone who has an iPhone has asked Siri to set their 8 a.m. alarm, only for Siri to respond, "Here's what I found on the web for 'set my 8 a.m. alarm.'" Which is why iPhone users rejoiced when Apple introduced Apple Intelligence in 2024, which promised a new and improved, AI-powered Siri. However, the new features wouldn't be available right away. Users would have to wait until 2025.
2025 came, and Apple delayed the update again, pushing it instead to 2026. Now, 2026 is here, and it looks like the updated Siri may not be coming as soon as users — and Apple — hoped.
Apple Reportedly Delays New Siri Features Again
Rather than launching the rebuilt, face-lifted Siri this spring, Bloombergreports that it may instead launch incrementally over the next several months.
Initially, the plan was to launch the new Siri with iOS 26.4 in March. Reportedly, that was even on track as of a few weeks ago. But as testing went on, engineers realized the long-delayed software still wasn't ready for primetime. Siri still was misunderstanding prompts and timing out while trying to handle requests — issues iPhone users know all too well with the current iteration of Siri.
Now, it looks like users will have to wait until iOS 26.5 to experience the updated Siri — and still not even with all the bells and whistles. Per the report, Apple is likely to drop the feature that allowed Siri to search through user's data, enabling them to find things like old text messages or email attachments.
By the time iOS 27 comes in the fall, Apple will reportedly have a fully revamped Siri that will be powered by Google's Gemini and function more like Gemini and ChatGPT.