Apple officially delays the AI-infused Siri and admits, ‘It’s going to take us longer than we thought’

Apple has delayed the smarter, AI-infused Siri and says it will arrive “in the coming year.”
Since Apple Intelligence’s debut, we’ve been waiting to try the smarter Siri with access to Apps
“It’s going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features”

We’ve all been waiting for Apple to drop the significant Siri upgrade that was supposed to arrive at some point within the iOS 18 lifecycle. It goes beyond Siri’s colorful glow all around the screen that’s been here since the iPhone 16 lineup launched in September of 2024 and was promised to make the virtual assistant smarter, more useful, and a far better conversationalist.

However, our hopes were greatly diminished with iOS 18.4 arriving as developer and public betas without a new Siri. This is especially true after so many reports and rumors hinted that Apple was planning to release the new Siri – at least the first taste of it – in the spring.

Now, though, Apple has confirmed to Daring Fireball that the significant Siri upgrade is delayed: “It’s going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features, and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year.” Those features included Siri factoring in personal context and the ability to see, understand, and control various applications on your device.

Updates to Siri being presented at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024. — (Image credit: Future)

Apple originally announced the upgraded Siri with Personal Context back at the main WWDC 2024 keynote (World Wide Developers Conference) on June 10 without an exact release date in writing, but that it would arrive in the coming months.

The statement to Daring Fireball in full from Apple reads: “Siri helps our users find what they need and get things done quickly, and in just the past six months, we’ve made Siri more conversational, introduced new features like type to Siri and product knowledge, and added an integration with ChatGPT. We’ve also been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps. It’s going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year.”

Apple has rolled out numerous Apple Intelligence features, but even so, this major upgrade to Siri, which would have put it on the same playing field as OpenAI’s ChatGPT Voice Mode or Gemini Live, was a real headliner. Writing tools, notification summaries, and Clean Up in photos, among others, are all helpful, and so is Siri’s ability to provide tech support. Even so, the truly smarter Siri would have been the real meat and potatoes of Apple Intelligence.

It’s also a rare admission from Apple, but the strong communication and transparency with level-setting expectations for when these features will finally ship is appreciated. I imagine even more so for folks who have been waiting for it to drop – me being one of them – and have invested in devices that are capable of running Apple Intelligence. It’s on par with the cancellation of AirPower, the iPhone 4’s ‘Antennagate,’ and the retooling of Apple Maps.

Further, it’s worth giving this piece by TechRadar’s Editor-at-Large Lance Ulanoff a read with this statement from Apple providing additional context – Apple’s privacy first and a more cautious approach with AI and Apple Intelligence was doing it no favors, writing “Yes, I get that Apple is the most privacy-aware and secure consumer platform and ecosystem. A portion of their AI strategy revolves around Private Cloud Compute. But what is that locked-down vapor actually doing for us?”

It’s worth a read now in light of the confirmed delay. At least Apple is still committed to rolling out this new Siri with personal context and app access. Further, it’s clear they’re committed to doing it right … even if that takes more time.

Safe to say that the stakes will be even higher at the 2025 World Wide Developers Conference and with iOS 19, both of which are likely three months away as the event is typically within the first two weeks of June.

This story is developing…