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Apple’s long-awaited overhaul of Siri, powered by generative artificial intelligence, could be only months away from reaching users. First revealed more than a year and a half ago, the revamped voice assistant has faced significant engineering challenges, delaying its public rollout. Recent reports now suggest that progress is back on track.
Major Siri upgrades announced at WWDC
At WWDC 2024, Apple outlined three major improvements planned for Siri under its Apple Intelligence initiative, reported 9To5Mac.
The first is personal context, allowing Siri to understand information stored across a user’s device, so users no longer need to remember where specific content is saved.
The second upgrade is on-screen awareness, enabling Siri to recognise what is currently displayed on the screen and respond to requests without requiring detailed explanations.
The third feature focuses on taking action within apps, allowing Siri to carry out tasks directly, rather than forcing users to manually open apps for simple actions.
Delays caused by engineering overhaul?
These upgrades were initially expected to arrive with iOS 18.4. However, Apple reportedly encountered technical limitations with Siri’s existing architecture. As a result, the company opted to rebuild the assistant from the ground up using a new large language model-based infrastructure.
Google Gemini under consideration
Apple is also said to be evaluating Google’s Gemini models to power parts of the new Siri experience, rather than relying solely on on-device processing. If adopted, requests would run through Apple’s Private Cloud Compute system, ensuring that user data is not shared with Google.
According to a recent report by Macworld journalist Filipe Esposito, Apple’s internal code suggests the new Siri features are now scheduled to launch with iOS 26.4.
Apple working on its own AI search engine?
Beyond Siri’s previously announced upgrades, Apple is also developing a generative AI-powered search engine. Internally known as World Knowledge Answers, the tool is designed to compete with AI services such as Perplexity and OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that this feature could debut as early as March, alongside the updated Siri. In the future, it may also be integrated into Safari and Spotlight search.
Expected release timeline
While Apple has not confirmed an official release date for iOS 26.4, past release patterns suggest a launch window of March or April. If that timeline holds, the first developer beta could arrive as soon as next month.
This would mean Apple users may get their first hands-on experience with the company’s most ambitious Siri update yet within the next six weeks.
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