Apple Delays Siri AI Overhaul as Gemini-Powered Tests Hit Snags

A Billion-Dollar Upgrade Hits a Wall

Apple's ambitious plan to transform Siri from a basic voice assistant into a genuinely intelligent AI companion has run into serious trouble. The company confirmed that key features of the revamped Siri — powered by Google's Gemini large language model under a deal worth roughly $1 billion per year — will not ship with iOS 26.4 as originally planned. Instead, some capabilities may be pushed to iOS 26.5 in May, with the full overhaul potentially arriving only with iOS 27 in September.

What Went Wrong in Testing

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, internal testing revealed that the new Siri makes mistakes processing queries and responds too slowly — problems Apple considers unacceptable before deploying to more than a billion iPhone users worldwide. Two features are particularly behind schedule: the ability to search personal data like text messages and photos to complete tasks, and voice-based control of in-app actions.

The personal data feature — which would let Siri locate a podcast a friend mentioned in a text, or pull flight details from an email — is "especially likely to slip," Gurman reported. Voice-based in-app control, meanwhile, is running significantly behind its original timeline.

The Google Gemini Partnership

The delays come just weeks after Apple and Google officially announced their landmark AI partnership in January 2026. Under the multi-year agreement, Apple gains complete access to Google's Gemini model within its own data centers — a deal reported by The Information to be "deeper than previously known."

Rather than running Gemini directly on devices, Apple uses a process called distillation to create smaller, task-specific models that require less computing power and can run locally on iPhones. These compact models learn from Gemini's internal reasoning, achieving comparable performance with significantly reduced resources.

What the New Siri Promises

When it finally arrives, the overhauled Siri represents a fundamental architectural shift. The assistant will be able to:

• Understand conversational context and remember past interactions
• Recognize on-screen content and act on it
• Extract information from emails, messages, and photos
• Work seamlessly across apps to complete multi-step tasks
• Proactively suggest actions — like leaving early to avoid traffic before an airport pickup

Apple also plans to open Siri to competing AI assistants beyond its existing ChatGPT integration, positioning the iPhone as a broader AI platform.

The Bigger Picture

The delay underscores the enormous technical challenge of deploying AI at Apple's scale. While competitors like Google Assistant and Samsung's Galaxy AI have already shipped LLM-powered features, Apple's cautious approach reflects its commitment to reliability over speed-to-market. A buggy Siri rollout to a billion devices could be far more damaging than a delayed one.

Apple is expected to unveil the full scope of its Siri overhaul at WWDC on June 8, with the most significant changes arriving in iOS 27 this fall. For now, iPhone users will have to wait a little longer for the AI assistant Apple has been promising — and paying a billion dollars a year to build.