Gemini-powered Siri "still on track" for 2026 release – Apple tells major outlet

The enhanced version of Siri that was first introduced by Apple in June 2024 may be facing continued internal delays but will still appear in 2026, according to Apple.

We first got a glimpse of Apple's plans for a more advanced Siri experience in 2024, when Apple Intelligence was announced. While Apple Intelligence has appeared on iPhone, iPad and Mac models, the enhancements to Siri remain ominously absent.

Through 2026, there has been quite a lot of reporting on the changes to come. First, there was the announcement of a partnership with Google, outlining that Gemini would power the next-gen Siri. It was expected that the first moves towards a smarter Siri would appear in iOS 26.4, but Mark Gurman reported on 11 February that there were further delays.

There's the suggestion therefore, that changes to Siri aren't going to appear in iOS 26.4, but in later versions. This, it seems, put the cat among the pigeons, with Apple stock dropping 5% on Thursday, according to CNBC.

However, CNBC also reported that Apple has confirmed that the updated Siri is "still on track to launch in 2026".

What we're left with is a slightly confusing picture. Initially, it was understood that new features would come to Siri under the Apple Intelligence banner with iOS 26.4 before a larger roll-out of the new Gemini-powered Siri experience with iOS 27 around September 2026.

With the report of delays, it's unclear which part of the changes to Siri are being referenced. But with the confirmation from Apple, we can still expect to see Siri undergo a radical change in 2026 to offer an enhanced experience, with better natural language understanding and capable of more chatbot-like interactions.

Why the delay to a more powerful Siri?

Siri was the first voice assistant, launching before Google Assistant and Alexa, but it has been slow to evolve, with the general feeling that Apple is playing catchup in the AI space.

Google has been a lot more aggressive with AI because it's investing heavily in the AI race – but that has also resulted in a fairly coherent AI strategy on Android phones.

With Siri in line to adopt Gemini's skills, Apple should be able to craft AI into meaningful experiences that some brands are currently missing. In many cases, we're seeing AI for the sake of AI, rather than because it's actually useful.

While Apple's relative caution in adopting AI has drawn plenty of criticism, there are high hopes that once it is fully engaged with delivering AI experiences, there will be more direction and purpose, rather than iterative versions of searching, summarising and translating.