During WWDC 2024, Apple previewed the iOS 18 firmware and a major highlight of the update was shown to be the new artificial intelligence (AI) suite. While many of the showcased features have made their way to the iPhone since then, the highly anticipated Apple Intelligence-powered Siri with contextual awareness and natural language support is yet to be seen. However, a report suggests that the Cupertino-based tech giant has internally set a date for its release and it could happen in the first half of 2026.
Advanced Siri Launch Date
In a report, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said that Apple aims to turn around its fortunes when it comes to its AI progress and an advanced version of Siri for the iPhone will play a big part. It is slated to have an internal release timeline of Spring 2026 withe Apple reportedly targeting a release with the iOS 26.4 update.
At WWDC 2025 just a few days prior, the company hinted towards the promised Siri upgrades that are long overdue and reiterated that they would be available in the “coming year”, nearly two years from the originally planned launch timeline of Fall 2024. Craig Federighi, Senior Vice President of Software Engineering at Apple emphasised that it needed “more time to reach our high quality bar”.
The delay is attributed to the technical challenge faced by Apple. In iOS 18, the company split its AI assistant into two systems; the existing one was retained for fulfilling common tasks like making calls and setting up timers, while a new generation platform was introduced for running upgraded features. The problem surfaced when combining these two architectures, leading to the emergence of bugs, forcing Apple to rebuild Siri from the ground up.
The release timeline is still said to be dependent upon any potential snags which Apple runs into during its development. If everything remains as per schedule, Apple could reportedly preview the features alongside the launch of the new iPhone models, ubiquitously known as the iPhone 17 series, during its September launch event. However, this is just speculation and there is no final word yet.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, Gurman notes that there remains an internal tussle between the various teams at Apple. The software development team which worked on the AI features is said to have pointed fingers at the marketing team for “overhyping” the features during the keynote and subsequent teasers, while the latter says it followed the timelines provided by the former.
