Last-minute problems might have cropped up that will require Apple to slow the rollout of its Google Gemini-boosted Siri; though the improved smart assistant will still ship this year, it might not arrive as expected this spring.

These claims come from the eerily accurate fingers of Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, and mean Apple will have to continue to do its level best to manage the damage of its slow progress in generative AI (genAI). To be fair, the company does have a good story to tell when it comes to machine learning and intelligence and the application of those technologies in its devices, such as Hypertension Warnings on Apple Watch. 

Gurman explains how Apple had originally intended to release the new Gemini-augmented capabilities in iOS 26.4 next month, but will now introduce these improvements across future software updates. He explains that testing has revealed reliability problems, challenges with query processing accuracy, and slow response times. 

The queue at the store

To put this into context, it’s important to remember that Apple only revealed its Gemini deal in January after months of speculation. The company had been working with its own models in advance of this, and it seems it will continue to do so, introducing its own AI services for specific tasks when doing so makes any sense. 

Gurman warns that the contextual Siri, capable of using your personal data to inform useful responses and contextual answers to your queries, will be the last improvement to appear. Voice-based control of in-app actions is also running late, he said. 

That won’t matter much to Apple’s market competitors, critics, and commentators, who will continue to point out that the company originally promised these features would arrive with iOS 18 in 2024. 

That promise turned out to be built on sand. The Information even reported that most of the advanced features Apple originally promised at WWDC had not even been developed at the time the promise was made. (An Apple ad showing these features was removed, though you can still find it online.)

This caused grave concern across Apple’s senior leadership, with major changes and new management all put in place across Apple’s AI teams as a result. Despite the retirement of Apple’s then-AI leader John Giannandrea, reputational damage was done — and news of a further delay will likely tarnish Apple’s shine a bit more.

When it comes to Siri and AI, we’ve grown accustomed to delay and disappointment – something Apple doesn’t want to share with Siri’s millions of users. One in four smartphones are iPhones, and 19% of iPhone users interact with Siri daily.

Snatching victory one improvement at a time

That’s not a good place for Apple to be, but I can see how the company can turn it into something like a victory by doing as Gurman suggests — steadily shipping improved AI services as they are ready. This should make for real usability improvements for Apple’s customers and will also allow Apple the luxury of exploiting the best of these new services within wider launches; it could potentially introduce one or two of these in-development features at WWDC, along with the iPhone 17e and with new Macs, for example. 

For Apple, of course, the secondary risk is that the AI it is hoping to implement across its platforms might already seem outclassed by the capabilities other AI tools have by then achieved. After all, now that we have AI developing itself, the pace of change is accelerating. Can Apple keep up? Or will the company’s strategic approach — in which it provides the world’s best platforms for personal, private AI along with support for all the world’s leading AI services — emerge as the correct one in the long run. 

Right now, we can’t ask Siri about that. And while we’ll be waiting a little longer than expected until we can, it is reassuring to know that Apple is now dealing with challenges in tech it has actively got working in the labs, rather than making promises based on some fantasy wish list written on a desk in Cupertino.

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