The Endless Wait: Apple's Ambitious AI Siri Faces Yet Another Major Delay

Unsurprisingly, Apple's plan to release its revamped AI-powered Siri this spring has been postponed once again. According to inside sources cited by Bloomberg, the launch of AI Siri is being pushed back, with the earliest possible release now tied to iOS 26.5. Furthermore, the full suite of features will be rolled out gradually, with the timeline potentially extending to the release of iOS 27 in September. This is a significant setback from the original internal plan to launch AI Siri with iOS 26.4 in March of this year.

First announced at WWDC in June 2024, AI Siri promised users the ability to precisely control apps on their iPhones with their voice. Initially slated for an early 2025 release, the target was later moved to March 2026. Now, it appears even that goal was too ambitious for Apple. Internal testing has revealed a host of problems: Siri often misunderstands commands, processes requests too slowly, and lacks consistent accuracy. It can even be interrupted if a user speaks too quickly and performs even worse with complex queries that require longer inference times.

 

The Endless Wait: Apple's Ambitious AI Siri Faces Yet Another Major Delay

 

Adding to the concerns, the new Siri sometimes defaults to its existing ChatGPT integration to handle requests that, by design, should be managed by Apple's proprietary technology. As of late last year, the test version of the new Siri was still running so slowly that staff involved in its development anticipated a delay of several more months. Despite Apple executives pushing to meet the spring deadline until just a few weeks ago, a delay now seems inevitable.


The Endless Wait: Apple's Ambitious AI Siri Faces Yet Another Major Delay

 

Even features showcased at WWDC are at risk of being scaled back or cut entirely. For instance, Siri's ability to deeply access personal data—demonstrated by having it search old text messages to find a dinner time—is now flagged with a "preview" toggle in internal builds of iOS 26.5. This label is a clear warning that the feature may be incomplete and unstable at launch. Another key feature, the App Intents system, which was touted as a killer capability allowing voice control for in-app actions like finding, editing, and sending a specific photo, is also reportedly unreliable in its early versions.

A primary reason for these repeated delays likely stems from Apple's unwavering commitment to user privacy. In a recent employee meeting, software engineering chief Craig Federighi reiterated that personalized AI must not compromise user data. He contrasted Apple's approach—processing data on-device or on privacy-protected servers—with the industry standard of sending user data to the cloud for model training. Apple intends to train its AI using licensed and synthetic data, a principled but technically challenging path. This privacy-first stance is further supported by CEO Tim Cook's mention of developing new data center chips, likely part of a strategy to run powerful third-party models, such as Google's Gemini, on Apple's own secure infrastructure.

 

The Endless Wait: Apple's Ambitious AI Siri Faces Yet Another Major Delay

 

While the intention to protect user privacy is commendable, the persistent delays are eroding trust among users and the industry, particularly for consumers who purchased iPhone 16 series devices based on the promise of advanced AI features. The ripple effect is significant, stalling the development of new smart home products that rely on AI Siri's functionality. This situation is compounded by a serious talent drain from Apple's AI team over the past year, with key members departing for competitors like Meta, OpenAI, and xAI.


The Endless Wait: Apple's Ambitious AI Siri Faces Yet Another Major Delay

 

With widespread speculation that CEO Tim Cook may retire this year, it's becoming questionable whether he will see the full vision of AI Siri realized during his tenure. While strong iPhone 17 sales have provided a temporary shield, masking the company's lag in the AI race, the lack of a robust, in-house AI platform is a critical vulnerability. If Apple cannot deliver on its core AI promises soon, its long-held position at the top of the tech world may not be as secure in the years to come.

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