Apple delays Siri AI overhaul to May, more features pushed to September

Apple delays its AI Siri overhaul again

Apple has once again delayed its long-promised AI overhaul for Siri. The company intended to launch the new features with iOS 26.4 in March but is now pushing them to later updates due to testing problems.

According to a Bloomberg report from Mark Gurman, Apple will split the major Siri updates across multiple releases. The first batch is now targeted for iOS 26.5 in May, with more features potentially held for iOS 27 in September.

What's broken with AI Siri

Apple's engineers are struggling with core functionality. Sources say Siri is failing to properly process queries and is often too slow to respond, undermining its purpose as a smart assistant.

The feature allowing Siri to use personal data to answer questions is a key focus for testing in iOS 26.5. Users might access it through a "preview" toggle in Settings, treating the rollout as a beta.

Another major hurdle is "app intents," which let Siri perform multi-step actions. A command to open, edit, and share a photo only works if the underlying technology is reliable, which it currently is not.

• Siri cuts off user prompts too early.
• It sometimes incorrectly taps into ChatGPT instead of Apple's own AI.
• Response speed and query processing are inconsistent.

New AI features also face hurdles

Apple is testing additional AI tools for future updates, but these are also hitting development snags. One is a new web search feature that functions similarly to AI search from Perplexity or Google, returning summarized reports with links.

The other is a custom image generation tool that builds on Apple's existing Image Playground. Both features are facing significant technical challenges that are delaying their release.

Looking further ahead, Apple plans to give Siri chatbot features akin to ChatGPT, though it will reportedly use Google's Gemini to power them. This version of Siri may even get its own dedicated app.

Why Siri is perpetually behind

Siri popularized smart assistants but quickly fell behind competitors like Alexa and Google's Gemini. While rivals have embraced generative AI for complex, contextual tasks, Siri remains largely limited to basic commands like setting alarms.

Apple's ambitious vision for an "AI Siri" was announced with Apple Intelligence in 2024. The promise was an assistant that could see what's on your screen and take actions across apps, but that version has never launched.

The company was caught off guard by the generative AI boom that began with ChatGPT in late 2022. Internal resistance and a subsequent scramble to catch up have defined its AI efforts ever since.

The privacy and hardware complication

Apple's commitment to privacy adds a layer of complexity its rivals don't face. The company cannot simply hoover up user data to train models; it must ensure all data processing, especially in the cloud, meets strict security standards.

This philosophy extends to hardware. Instead of buying readily available GPUs, Apple is focused on building its own custom hardware for cloud-based AI processing. This ambitious, in-house approach further slows development.

The result is that even the world's second most valuable tech company cannot quickly produce a competitive AI assistant. The delays highlight a fundamental tension between Apple's privacy standards, its hardware strategy, and the breakneck pace of AI innovation.