Apple’s planned upgrade of Siri with new AI features, originally expected with iOS 18.4 in April, has been delayed significantly due to development challenges. An official statement from Apple confirmed that a more personalized and context-aware Siri is still in progress, with a new release timeframe set for “in the coming year” rather than weeks or months. This suggests a substantial delay beyond previous expectations. In the interim, the upcoming iOS 18.4 will introduce improved Siri capabilities in the EU and more languages, but users hoping for the revamped Siri must be prepared for a longer wait.
Apple’s highly awaited update to Siri, featuring new AI capabilities, was initially expected to launch in April alongside iOS 18.4. However, subsequent rumors indicated that the release has been postponed yet again.
Today, the company has confirmed this development. In fact, the enhanced AI-driven Siri is still quite a ways off, as its creation has proven to be more challenging than Apple had anticipated. This situation raises questions about the forecasting skills of Apple engineers.
Here’s the full statement from Apple spokesperson Jacqueline Roy, which she shared with Daring Fireball’s John Gruber this morning:
Siri assists our users in locating what they need and achieving tasks efficiently. In the last six months, we have enhanced Siri’s conversational abilities, introduced new features like type to Siri and improved product knowledge, and integrated it with ChatGPT. We’re also focusing on developing a more personalized Siri, which will be more contextually aware and capable of executing actions on your behalf across apps. It’s going to take us longer than we originally anticipated to roll out these features, and we expect to start launching them in the coming year.
Did you catch that? The revised timeframe for release, at least according to official sources, is “in the coming year.” Not “in the coming weeks” (a favorite phrase in Silicon Valley), and not even “in the coming months,” but “in the coming year“,
This strongly suggests a much longer delay than the latest rumors had predicted. So, if you’ve been eagerly awaiting a more personalized Siri that “understands” you and can perform actions within apps on your behalf, prepare for an extended wait.
In the meantime, with the iOS 18.4 release scheduled for next month, Apple Intelligence (as it stands currently) will finally be introduced to the EU and will also be launched in additional languages.