Apple’s ChatGPT-style Siri upgrade is facing major delays, with a fully conversational version now unlikely to launch before 2027, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his latest PowerOn newsletter.
The report details Apple’s struggles in modernizing Siri, as internal setbacks have forced the company to push back key AI improvements–to at least iOS 20. Yes, you read that right.
Initially, Apple planned to introduce LLM Siri, a new AI-powered voice assistant capable real-time conversations, alongside iOS 19 in 2026. However, insiders now say the merging of Siri’s architecture is running behind schedule. Apple Intelligence was rushed to meet deadlines, leaving Siri stuck with two separate systems—one handling basic commands like timers and phone calls, and the other for more advanced AI responses. This split has led to performance issues, and Apple now needs more time to integrate the two.
According to Gurman, the first phase of Siri’s AI overhaul—merging its systems—will roll out in iOS 19.4 by 2026, but this will mainly be a technical fix, with no significant AI breakthroughs for users. The real upgrade, which was supposed to introduce true conversational AI, has now been pushed to iOS 20 in 2027 at the earliest. That’s a long time from now if we take into account how quickly AI tech is evolving at the moment.
Apple’s AI division is facing serious internal challenges, with employees reporting that its homegrown AI models are already outdated by the time they’re ready for launch. Gurman’s report highlights how Apple was caught off guard by the rapid rise of ChatGPT, and when it tried to expand its AI efforts, rivals like OpenAI, Google, and Amazon had already secured much of the available AI talent and infrastructure. Apple has since struggled with retaining key AI engineers, with many leaving for more competitive AI companies.
Gurman also notes that iOS 19 will likely include no major consumer-facing AI upgrades, making this a critical moment for Apple. While Google, Amazon, and OpenAI continue rolling out cutting-edge AI assistants, Apple is still playing catch-up. The longer Apple delays, the wider the gap grows between Siri and its competitors.
You have to feel for iPhone 16 series users who had Apple Intelligence marketing pushed down their throats to only see the full feature list delayed, particularly the new Siri. What should Apple do to fix this Siri problem? Does it really need to take at least two more years as noted here by Gurman?
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Apple probably has to rewrite Siri from scratch to fully incorporate AI. OpenAI, Google, and Meta will be way ahead by 2027. Is the executive so out of touch that they’ve missed the boat on AI? In terms of hardware, there are just incremental improvements each year. Most customers are holding onto their iPhones longer because the older phones are good enough.
By the time the full Siri launches, I probably will be on a OnePlus or Google Pixel phone. I’m disappointed in Apple for nixing Apple Intelligence on the iPhone 15. IMO, Apple should’ve increased the RAM to 8 GB when the iPhone 14 Pro launched. My $500 3year old Galaxy A53 has more AI features than my current iPhone 15.
What do you mean? You can remove items from photos using super mega advanced Apple Exclusive AI features… that was never designed to remove things from the foreground… only the background where you can't see how bad it is.
You all overhype AI way too much. Writing tools is very helpful and I use ChatGPT a lot, But I honestly can’t tell a huge difference between 3.5 and 4o.