Apple Taps Brakes on Siri AI Overhaul

Some features that the company expected to add in March as part of an iOS 26.4 update are now likely to be released in May as part of iOS 26.5 and in September as part of iOS 27, according to the report.

Among the features likely to be delayed are Siri’s expanded ability to tap into personal data such as old text messages, and its ability to perform several in-app actions in response to a single command, the report said.

The change in plans follows Apple’s discovery that with the new software that’s being tested, Siri makes mistakes in processing queries and takes too long to handle requests, per the report.

Apple did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

PYMNTS reported in December that Apple revamped its artificial intelligence leadership amid Siri delays. The shakeup came as the company raced to shore up its Apple Intelligence roadmap and Siri’s AI makeover after a year of delays, glitches and senior departures.

The report noted that PYMNTS coverage over the previous 18 months had cataloged missteps such as the need to delay key Apple Intelligence features for iOS and iPadOS to avoid shipping unstable code, the need to pull the feature after AI-generated news alerts and message summaries drew criticism for inaccuracies, and engineering troubles that slowed a next-generation Siri.

In January, Apple and Google announced that they had formed a partnership and that the next generation of Apple’s foundation models will be based on Google’s Gemini and cloud tech.

It was reported Thursday (Feb. 5) that Apple scaled back its plans to release another product: an AI-based health coach. Instead of launching the coach as a standalone product, the company plans to roll out some of the planned features inside its Health app over time.

In January, it was reported that Apple was scaling back the Vision Pro after weak sales. The company cut back both manufacturing and marketing for the $3,499 headset after choosing not to expand the product’s rollout in 2025.