Rumor: Siri’s Apple Intelligence-infused overhaul will not launch until at least iOS 20
According to a new rumor, Apple won’t be able to deliver an overhauled, more conversational Siri assistant powered by Apple Intelligence this year after all.
Mark Gurman wrote on Bloomberg that Apple has run into some challenges trying to overhaul the troubled Siri assistant. This further highlights how far behind it’s fallen behind other AI players like OpenAI, whose ChatGTP engine is already integrated into Siri. Instead of unveiling a more conversational Siri in iOS 18.5, which should release in May, Apple has reportedly postponed the project until iOS 20.
Gurman has learned from Apple engineers on the Siri team that they no longer expect the feature to arrive alongside iOS 19.4 in Spring 2026. The upgrade was supposed to empower Siri with more capable large language models. Engineers allegedly don’t expect a more conventional Siri to be previewed at this year’s upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June either.
If correct, the expected Siri overhaul won’t be previewed until the WWDC 2026 next year and publicly released until iOS 20.0 in September 2026.
Rumor: Siri’s Apple Intelligence overhaul has been delayed until at least iOS 20
We’re talking about the conversational features for Siri that Apple previewed at the WWDC 2024 in June. That’s June of last year. So what went wrong?
The current iOS 18 version of Siri essentially has two brains: one that operates the legacy Siri commands, like timers and making calls, and another that handles more advanced queries. The latter capability will be able to tap user data and already is used to not get confused when people change their request mid-command. In order to get Apple Intelligence out the door as part of iOS 18, the company didn’t have time to meld the two systems together. That means the software doesn’t work as smoothly as it could.
What’s the new plan then?
For iOS 19, Apple’s plan is to merge both systems together and roll out a new Siri architecture. I expect this to be introduced as early as Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June of this year — with a launch by spring 2026 as part of iOS 19.4. The new system, dubbed “LLM Siri” internally, was supposed to also introduce a more conversational approach in the same release. But that is now running behind as well and won’t be unveiled in June.
But…
Before Apple can go full-throttle on development of that Siri, which is supposed to finally work more like ChatGPT and the new Alexa, Apple will need to get the underlying system fixed. And that won’t be easy. That’s why people within Apple’s AI division now believe that a true modernized, conversational version of Siri won’t reach consumers until iOS 20 at best in 2027.
Apple is currently testing iOS 18.4, which will arrive in April carrying with it additional Apple Intelligence features like Priority Notifications, a new Sketch drawing style for Image Playground and support for Apple Intelligence languages like French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean and Chinese (simplified), in addition to localized English for Singapore and India. The update doesn’t seem to contain any significant improvements for Siri.
Apple is still expected to deliver other Siri improvements soon, including onscreen awareness, personal context understanding and in-app controls. These features will likely be part of iOS 18.5, which should release in May. Apple will release the first iOS 18.5 beta after iOS 18.4 is released to the public in April.
Siri currently uses OpenAI’s ChatGTP for more complex queries and some generative AI features. Apple is also expected to integrate Google’s Gemini into Siri as a second external provider in a software update later this year.
Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/03/03/siri-apple-intelligence-delay-ios-20-rumor/
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