Siri 2.0 Delayed Again: Apple Splits AI Features Across iOS 26.4, iOS 26.5 & iOS 27

It has now been almost two years since Apple first showed the world what a smarter, more personal version of Siri could look like on stage at WWDC 2024. Since then, iPhone owners have been waiting — and waiting — for the features that were promised that day to actually appear on their devices.

On February 11, 2026, Bloomberg reported that Apple's internal testing of the revamped Siri has run into significant problems, and the company is now planning to spread the new features across multiple upcoming iOS releases rather than delivering everything in the iOS 26.4 update that was originally targeted for March 2026.

This means some of the most anticipated Siri capabilities may be pushed to iOS 26.5 (expected May 2026), while the biggest changes — particularly full chatbot functionality — are being reserved for iOS 27 this September. Here is our full breakdown of what is happening, which features are affected, and what this means for iOS 27.

What's Actually Happening with Siri?

Apple had been targeting iOS 26.4 as the release that would finally deliver on the Apple Intelligence version of Siri — the one with personal context, on-screen awareness, advanced app control, and the ability to work across multiple apps to complete complex tasks. The developer beta was expected to arrive the week of February 23, 2026.

However, as Apple engineers began internal testing ahead of that beta release, they encountered problems that were serious enough to reconsider the launch plan. Rather than shipping a half-baked experience and risking another round of public disappointment, Apple has opted to take a phased approach.

The company will still release iOS 26.4, and it will still contain some new Siri functionality. But the full suite of features that Apple originally planned for this update will now be distributed across three separate releases over the next seven months.

The Technical Problems Apple Is Facing

According to the Bloomberg report and corroborating information from other outlets, the issues fall into several categories:

Query Processing Failures

Siri sometimes fails to properly process user requests. Queries that should work with the new personal context system — like asking Siri to find a specific text message or cross-reference calendar events — do not always return correct results. This is particularly problematic because the entire value proposition of the new Siri depends on it understanding your data reliably.

Response Time Problems

In testing, the revamped Siri can take too long to respond to certain requests. When you are competing with assistants like Gemini and ChatGPT that deliver near-instant responses, latency is not acceptable. Apple's engineers are reportedly struggling to bring response times down to a level that feels natural in conversation.

ChatGPT Fallback Issues

One of the more unusual problems: Siri sometimes defaults to using ChatGPT for information instead of relying on the new Gemini-powered backend, even when the new system is perfectly capable of handling the request. This suggests the routing logic between different AI backends is not yet reliable.

Speech Recognition Challenges

The new Siri reportedly has a tendency to cut speakers off when they talk quickly, or struggles to process complex multi-part queries. For an assistant that is supposed to handle natural conversation, this is a fundamental issue that needs to be resolved before launch.

App Intents Integration

The way third-party app intents tie into the revamped Apple Intelligence system is also reportedly experiencing issues. This is the feature that would allow Siri to take actions across different apps — for example, finding a photo and sending it via email — and it is proving difficult to make reliable at scale.

The New Rollout Plan: iOS 26.4 → 26.5 → iOS 27

Based on all available reporting, here is how Apple appears to be restructuring the Siri rollout:

Feature-by-Feature Status Tracker

Here is our assessment of where each major Siri feature stands based on all available reporting:

What iOS 27 Gets: The Chatbot Version of Siri

While the delays to iOS 26.4 and 26.5 are frustrating for users who have been waiting since 2024, there is a silver lining: iOS 27 is shaping up to receive the most transformative Siri update in the assistant's history.

Multiple reports, including from Bloomberg, confirm that Apple is developing chatbot functionality for Siri that will launch with iOS 27 this September. This version of Siri will be fundamentally different from anything Apple has shipped before. Instead of the command-and-response pattern that has defined Siri since 2011, the iOS 27 version will allow natural, flowing conversations where context carries from one exchange to the next.

Think of it as the difference between sending individual text commands to a machine and having an actual conversation with a knowledgeable assistant. You will be able to ask follow-up questions, reference things you mentioned earlier in the conversation, and have Siri maintain context across a multi-turn dialogue — much like how ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude work today.

This version of Siri will have deep integration with Apple's operating systems, meaning it will not just be a chatbot sitting on top of iOS — it will be woven into the fabric of how your iPhone, iPad, and Mac work. Combined with the personal context features that are being developed for iOS 26.5, the iOS 27 Siri could represent the most complete AI assistant experience available on any smartphone platform.

AFM v10: The Gemini Brain Behind the New Siri

Central to all of these upgrades is Apple Foundation Model (AFM) v10 — a custom-developed AI model that Apple has been building in partnership with Google. According to reports, AFM v10 is based on Google's Gemini 3 architecture and features approximately 1.2 trillion parameters.

This is the "brain" that powers the new Siri's ability to understand complex queries, maintain context across conversations, and process personal data in a privacy-respecting way. The partnership between Apple and Google for this technology is reportedly valued at approximately $1 billion, underscoring how seriously Apple is taking the AI race.

The model is designed to work within Apple's privacy framework, with most processing happening on-device through Apple's Neural Engine and, when necessary, through Apple's Private Cloud Compute infrastructure. This means your personal data — messages, emails, calendar events — stays under Apple's privacy protections even as it is being processed by Gemini-derived technology.

Other Apple Products Affected by the Delay

The Siri delay does not just affect iPhone owners waiting for a smarter assistant. Several upcoming Apple products are reportedly dependent on the new Siri capabilities, and their launch schedules could be impacted:

If the core Siri features are delayed until the second half of 2026, these products could see their launches pushed to late 2026 or even into 2027. For devices like the AR Glasses and HomePad, where Siri is not just a feature but the primary interaction method, shipping without the new Siri is essentially not an option.

Complete Timeline: From WWDC 2024 to Now