Updated Siri is delayed again: Apple pushes features to fall

The long-anticipated update to Siri with AI-powered features, originally announced back in June 2024, has hit another delay. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple won’t deliver all the planned capabilities in the March iOS 26.4 update and instead will stagger feature rollouts through subsequent releases up to iOS 27 this September.

The delay stems from issues uncovered during internal testing in recent weeks. Insider sources familiar with the project say the new Siri, built on the Linwood architecture (powered by Apple Foundation Models with Google Gemini integration), sometimes struggles to properly handle queries. Response times for certain commands exceed expectations, testers report app control glitches in complex scenarios, accuracy problems with speech recognition, and even premature interruptions when users speak quickly. In some cases, the system fell back on existing ChatGPT integration instead of using Apple’s new mechanisms.

Apple is now considering a phased release for the updated Siri:

• iOS 26.4 (March 2026) – basic improvements, possibly a preview version with warnings about unfinished features;

• iOS 26.5 (May 2026) – expanded personal context processing;

• iOS 27 (September 2026) – full implementation of complex in-app actions and end-to-end context.

Internal builds already include a toggle for accessing “preview” versions of some features, hinting Apple may display warnings for users about incomplete functionality.

Apple originally unveiled this “new era of Siri” at WWDC 2024, promising a voice assistant capable of understanding screen content, tapping into relevant user data, and executing multi-step tasks across apps. These enhancements were meant to set it apart from competitors like Google Assistant and ChatGPT’s voice mode.

Despite the tech partnership with Google (leveraging Gemini models) and Apple’s own privacy-focused AI developments, the company is facing the classic challenge of balancing reliability and speed for on-device AI in complex scenarios. Apple traditionally prefers to delay launches rather than ship half-baked features-but the nearly two-year wait since the initial announcement is starting to wear on users and developers alike.

Apple representatives confirm the updated Siri will arrive in 2026 but acknowledge it will be a gradual rollout. The full-featured version with all the promised capabilities is expected only with iOS 27 this fall.