You'll be surprised — Apple is already testing the update with the long-promised features for your iPhone
Apparently, some devices testing iOS 26 .4 are already on the internet, according to MacRumors' visiting logs. This pretty much means testing for the next big update for iPhones is already underway. Of course, there's not much that we can learn in terms of features from the logs, other than the operating system that is installed on a device that visited the website. It's curious, though, that Apple is testing the OS early. iOS 26 .4 is expected to be released early next year. It's hard to know exactly what Apple will include in this update. We are still waiting for the promised contextual Siri that Apple failed to give us when it promised, so this could be one of the things coming then. Additionally, some rumors indicate there would be new emojis, but obviously, this isn't such a big deal (and can arrive at any time with any update, really). Usually, emoji updates are timed when there is faster user adoption possible. For example, last time, iOS 18.4 had new emojis.
Image Credit - Apple
Mainly, though, rumor has it the long-awaited Apple Intelligence and context-aware Siri are expected to come in iOS 26 .4. Those features are said to be backed by Apple's in-house LLM (Large Language Model) if rumors are to be believed.
iOS 26 .4 could potentially come in April of 2026. Hopefully, this update will put Apple back in the game when it comes to generative AI. And it makes quite a lot of sense for Apple to be testing the OS update already, if it's going to be packed with features or with serious Apple Intelligence updates.
I think that Apple really needs to speed things up with the promised context-aware Siri. It hyped it a lot during WWDC last year, then it didn't happen with the iPhone 16, and now it's been postponed. The promised features are seriously cool though: Siri knowing your schedule and suggesting things to you, or being more conversational... but that's yet to come.
Let's hope waiting for the Apple Intelligence features this time around won't be like last time, when, with every new OS release, we were disappointed by the lack of the Siri 2.0 update.
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