Apple could scrap Siri AI upgrade and restart for iOS 19, according to report
After delaying its release, a new report suggests Apple is having more problems than it's letting on behind the scenes with Siri.
🤖 Apple is reportedly having serious problems with its planned AI upgrade for Siri
👀 According to a report, the company has faced more issues than it’s letting on
❌ Apple might wind up scrapping some features and starting from scratch
📅 It still seems like the upgrade could come out with iOS 19
Apple has officially delayed the release of its planned AI upgrade for Siri, and it seems like the reason behind it might be more serious than we thought. Advertised as a headlining feature of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro with Apple Intelligence, the upgrade would bring a more personalized experience to Siri and finally fix many of the issues users have had with the voice assistant. But it’s delayed by at most a year, and it might be due to serious bugs and issues with the features.
According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple’s issues with the Siri AI upgrade might run pretty deep. Quoting people familiar with the matter, the report says that Apple engineers have been racing to fix bugs and other problems within the project, but have thus far been unsuccessful. The company’s senior VP of software engineering Craig Federighi has reportedly “voiced strong concerns internally that the features didn’t work properly — or as advertised — in their personal testing.”
Because of these issues, Apple might have to start all over. Bloomberg says that some folks in Apple’s AI division believe the features will need to be scrapped and reworked from scratch, although it’s unclear what particular features they are. Regardless, it seems that Apple will be delaying these features until at least 2026, according to the report.
In addition, Apple employees are left to wonder whether the company’s AI leadership is up for the challenge. Some are questioning whether CEO Tim Cook or Apple’s board should take action to change the leadership behind the project.
Apple Intelligence has been promising a lot of big upgrades for iPhone users, but buyers of Apple’s latest handsets have yet to experience any of the most notable new features the company promised back at WWDC 2024. While things like Writing Tools and ChatGPT integration did eventually ship, the system is by no means as robust or as capable as Apple had promised. A big part of that is the lack of the revamped Siri experience, which won’t be shipping until at least the time that iOS 19 rolls out, it seems.
Whether Apple irons out all of these issues is unclear. Companies like Google and Amazon seem to have no issue shipping advanced voice assistants in the form of Gemini and Alexa+, so it’s unclear what could be holding Apple back from shipping a similar experience. We’ll be following this story closely, so be sure to subscribe to The Shortcut.
Max Buondonno is Editor at The Shortcut. He’s been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, How-To Geek, XDA, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop and Instagram @LegendaryScoop.
