It’s Groundhog Day for Siri once again, as Apple plans another one in the near future. long series of delays in Siri AI upgradeaccording to a Bloomberg report published Wednesday.
According to Bloomberg sources within Apple, the reinvented Siri voice assistant, including AI features reminiscent of AlexaPluswas delayed from March iPhone iOS 24.6 update to a release later this year, potentially in May, September or later.
An Apple representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Following repeated delays After announcing advanced Siri in 2024, Apple gave a broad timeline for 2026 for the release of the new voice assistant, which is widely expected to be included in iOS 26.4. Bloomberg reports that the latest internal tests show that Siri is still not up to par and will likely stay out of consumers’ reach for the time being.
This current version of Siri uses an architecture called Linwood, combining Apple’s large language model with Google’s Gemini AI technology. The mix is expected to add AI tools such as new web searches and image generation, as well as a chatbot style Siri AI (codenamed Campo), initially planned for iOS 27.
What features are holding back Super Siri?
Changes are coming to Siri.
Chris Wedel/CNETMuch of what Bloomberg reports in this latest release is similar to what we heard last year. The new Siri is too slow, struggles with complex commands, and doesn’t integrate well with Apple’s AI models or with services like ChatGPT. But there are a few new rumors here that paint a more complete picture:
- Data access issues: Bloomberg reports that Apple is abandoning plans to allow Siri to analyze more personal data, such as reviewing your old text messages to find a shared song or podcast. The feature might come later, but for now it’s delayed – maybe Consumer Concerns About AI Privacy also play a role.
- Application Intents: Intents are Apple’s version of allowing Siri to perform tasks within the app. For example, Apple wants Siri to be able to find a photo, apply a filter, and post it to your social media or message it to a friend, all with a single command. This feature does not seem reliable yet.
- Siri becomes laconic: Bloomberg contacts also report that Siri misbehaves when given particularly fast or complex commands, interrupting users before they can finish and requiring a complete restart.
Why is Apple so late in voice assistant AI?
Alexa Plus looks very different, but that depends on how you use voice assistants in general.
AmazonI have already experienced with Alexa Plus And Gemini for the house for months, and I love the results so far. Alexa Plus, in particular (free for Prime users and casual chatters, $20 for the full package), is much more conversational, understands complex commands, and can leverage entirely new third-party app integrations. Gemini for Home, on the other hand, excels at answering multi-step questions in the app and analyzing video footage. This raises the question of why Apple’s venture into this area has taken so long.
While I can’t read the minds of Apple developers, it’s clear that Apple invested less in LLMs and generative AI than Google and Amazon did in the beginning, and is now moving very cautiously toward this technology. Given that Alexa Plus doesn’t always know what it can or can’t do and Gemini for Home still struggles with voice chats, I can understand why Apple might want to wait for a very polished product.
Given that Apple has been delaying these advanced versions of Siri for over a year already, it’s clear that the company has no problem taking its time and finding a version of Siri AI that works for it. According to Bloomberg’s report, we could start seeing beta versions of these new Siri features in iOS 26.5 or iOS 27 as the slow climb towards public release continues.
