iOS 26.4: Siri Gets Smarter, AI Chatbot Coming

Apple is finally planning to release the more intelligent and conversational Siri in 2026 after a protracted delay. Mark Gurman of Bloomberg recently reported that the company might release AI-powered Siri with iOS 26.4 by March of next year.

A recent story suggests that Apple may finally debut Siri next year, only one day after executives gave their explanations for the AI-driven delay. According to Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, Apple’s long-awaited update for Siri is now expected to debut around iOS 26.4, which is normally issued in March. The updated virtual assistant is intended to provide much more advanced features, utilizing user data and on-screen content to carry out intricate, multi-step requests with increased context awareness.

Apple says that the new Siri will launch “in the coming year,” even though the company has not yet formally confirmed the exact release date. Interpretations of this wording range from a 2025 arrival to a potential 2026 delay, sparking an ongoing controversy. The development timeframe has been revised multiple times internally.

Launch timeline for Apple Siri

During WWDC 2024 last June, Apple first revealed its improved Siri capabilities, which are driven by Apple Intelligence. Through demonstrations that highlighted the new capabilities of the virtual assistant, the company extensively advertised the future features in its marketing for the iPhone 16 series. With the hope that these cutting-edge Siri functions would be accessible soon after debut, many buyers bought the newest iPhone models. However, Apple did not have a good outcome. Here’s why.

However, many early adopters were upset when Apple announced a delay in the rollout earlier in March. Users who expected to have instant access to the promised changes are frustrated by the delay.

This June, at WWDC 2025, Apple made a significant change in strategy. In contrast to other years, the business did not give a sneak peek at features that would be released later. As an indication of a more cautious and immediate product strategy, almost all of the announcements made at the keynote are already accessible in the initial developer beta.

Why is Apple taking so long to introduce Siri?

Mark Gurman of Bloomberg claims that technical difficulties have been the main cause of the several delays. According to reports, Apple’s engineers had trouble with a troublesome hybrid system that tried to combine new AI-powered features with the legacy Siri architecture. During testing, this experimental configuration experienced a high failure rate, with error rates averaging about 33 percent.

Apple is still dedicated to creating a more intelligent and contextually aware Siri in spite of the setbacks, as it seeks to maintain its competitiveness in the quickly changing AI market. Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi and Senior Vice President of Marketing Greg “Joz” Joswaik told WSJ that although Siri’s first phase showed promise, its second phase did not. They claimed that Apple “wants to get it right” and is not in a rush to provide the incorrect features only to be the first.

There have been major leadership changes at Apple as a result of the protracted rollout and delays of the company’s updated Siri. John Giannandrea, Apple’s senior vice president of AI, has reportedly been relieved of his responsibility for Siri and other customer-focused initiatives.

Siri Revamped: What to anticipate

Gurman also outlined the new features that the updated Siri will bring. Apple is reportedly getting ready to launch its Siri update, which is driven by a large language model (LLM). According to reports, the development process has gotten more complicated as Apple attempts to work around a number of historical components that are still present in Siri’s current infrastructure, essentially combining several projects into one more cohesive system.

Knowledge Chatbot: It is anticipated that Siri will enable a new app intent architecture after it has been completely redesigned with LLM technology. According to reports, Apple is working on a stand-alone chatbot called “Knowledge” in addition to redesigning Siri. Similar to previously documented internal Apple efforts like Ajax and Ask—sometimes referred to as “AppleGPT”—this program would retrieve data straight from the internet.

It is still unclear, though, if Knowledge will eventually be released as a product aimed at consumers. According to reports, Greg Joswiak, the senior vice president of Apple, would rather maintain Apple Intelligence as a seamless, in-house function than launch a stand-alone app. Robby Walker, the former chief of Siri, is apparently leading the Knowledge project.

Siri-Copilot: A third AI project is also underway with the goal of turning Siri into a background-operating, always-on digital copilot. Like the recently released Workout Buddy in watchOS 26, this future Siri would offer real-time information, make action suggestions, and complete activities on its own.

Even while a lot of these functions are still in the early stages of development, they provide an indication of Apple’s ambitious plans for the upcoming virtual assistant.

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