Apple reportedly delays AI-powered Siri revamp again

Apple has reportedly delayed its AI-powered Siri revamp, marking another setback for the digital assistant’s upgrade timeline. According to a report by Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, the consumer electronics company encountered internal testing issues that forced the software release timeline back. Apple has been promising an updated, AI-powered version of Siri since it first unveiled its Apple Intelligence platform in 2024. Over about a year and a half since that initial unveiling, the release date for this new era of Siri has been continuously pushed back, and the latest report indicates that users will likely have to wait even longer for the features to arrive.

While the new Siri was originally expected to launch with the upcoming iOS 26.4 operating system update in March, the rollout plan has changed. The software changes are now expected to roll out slowly over time rather than in a single release. This staggered approach reportedly postpones some of the assistant’s features until the May iOS update, or potentially even until the release of iOS 27 in September. The delay is attributed to the software testing issues that Apple encountered during its development process, which required the company to push the launch date further back.

The planned revamp is rumored to shift Siri toward the capabilities of modern Large Language Model (LLM) chatbots. Instead of requiring users to open separate applications on an iPhone or MacBook, users would be able to just talk directly to Siri to access these features. The digital assistant will be powered by Google’s Gemini AI model to enable these capabilities, with the integration rumored to make the digital assistant function more like the chatbots that have swept the tech world.

The ongoing delays have drawn external commentary regarding the pressure placed on the product management teams overseeing the transition. Highlighting the internal challenges of managing these continuous timeline shifts, the TechCrunch author, in their role as author, noted, “We’re starting to feel bad for the Siri product managers. Hang in there, folks.”

Why it matters

Apple’s ongoing delay of its AI-powered Siri revamp, which is rumored to integrate Large Language Model chatbot capabilities, reflects continued challenges in the company’s software release timeline.