Latest news with #iOS26.4
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Siri AI still planned for iOS 26, but you'll have to wait
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Quick Summary The long-awaited AI-powered Siri finally has a launch window, reports suggest. That would see it arrive in early 2026. There's something of an elephant in the room at Apple Park. A little over a year ago, at WWDC 2024, the brand announced a new all-singing, all-dancing, AI-powered Siri. It sounded fantastic, but there's just one problem – one year, four seasons and another WWDC later, we still don't have anything to show for it. The project has hit a snag or two over the last year, meaning the whole thing has been delayed. Fortunately, there is news about it – and it's good news. While the feature isn't expected to arrive directly in iOS 26, a new report from Mark Gurman suggests it will come in iOS 26.4, which typically arrives around March. We might not even have to wait that long for a glimpse. The report suggests that – if the next few weeks of development prove promising – we could be given a sneak preview of the development alongside the launch of the iPhone 17 range. That event is expected in September, which is really rather close indeed. The new Siri is said to make use of contextual information from apps across your device, to help inform its operation. That means, for example, it should be able to pull from things like your messages and your calendar, to personalised information which is actually useful to you. When iOS 18 was first in development, that made use of two halves of Siri. Common and simple tasks were handled by and older generation, while newer and more complex tasks were taken on by a revamped Siri engine. The combination of the two caused a series of bugs, which resulted in the entire thing being rebuilt from the ground up. While that has caused significant delays, the prospect of an entirely new Siri engine, designed from top to bottom to power this update, is really enticing. While the rumoured Spring 2026 launch window might feel like a lifetime for some fans of the brand, it's tantalisingly close for those who are keen to get started with Siri 2.0.
Tom's Guide
14 hours ago
- Tom's Guide
Siri 2.0 release window just tipped in new report — here's when it could arrive
An updated AI-based Siri was promised last year but has been delayed for months. After WWDC 2025, it was still unclear when the overhauled Siri would launch. Now, a report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman claims that Apple is targeting Spring 2026 to launch the upgraded Siri. Apparently, the Siri revamp will come out as part of iOS 26.4. If Apple keeps a similar schedule as iOS 18, that means we could see the public version of iOS 26.4 release at the end of March in 2026. The beta version will likely be available a few weeks before. During WWDC 2025, Tom's Guide global editor in chief Mark Spoonauer was able to sit down with Apple's Craig Federighi and Greg Joswiak and discuss the Siri delay. After some internal shuffling, Federighi has reportedly taken over development of Siri. When Apple Intelligence was introduced at WWDC 2024, Siri was supposed to get a number of enhancements, including more conversational experiences and contextual responses. According to Federighi, the company was working on two versions of Siri and found that at least one of the versions wasn't ready, while needing to upgrade the architecture. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. "We found that the limitations of the V1 architecture weren't getting us to the quality level that we knew our customers needed and we tried to push that out in the state it was going to be in, it would not meet our customer expectations or Apple standards and we had to move to the V2 architecture," he said. We found that the limitations of the V1 architecture weren't getting us to the quality level that we knew our customers needed and we tried to push that out in the state it was going to be in, it would not meet our customer expectations or Apple standards and we had to move to the V2 architecture. The problems with the two versions and the need to shift to a new "architecture" caused Apple to officially announce that Siri was delayed in March of this year, something the company rarely does. During the talk at WWDC 2025, Apple was mum on a release date. "We will announce the date when we're ready to seed it, and you're all ready to be able to experience it,' said Federighi. In the meantime, Apple has opened up its large language models to third-party developers. Previous reports have said that the company has also let its engineers tap into non-Apple AI models to help them improve Apple Intelligence and Siri. It's unclear whether Siri will become a chatbot, akin to Google Gemini or OpenAI's ChatGPT. Apple is saying that it doesn't want to build a chatbot and wants to "meet people where they are" with AI. Apple has openly struggled with Siri, and there's no guarantee that development doesn't hit snags over the next few months. Still, Siri appears to be in capable hands under Federighi's leadership, so we expect it will likely hit its internal deadlines for a spring launch. For now, Apple appears set on improving the Apple Intelligence features that are already available, like Visual Intelligence, while providing new ones that should make an impact across its suite of software including iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26 Tahoe and even the Apple Watch with watchOS 26 and the new Workout Buddy feature. According to Gurman, if things go well, a preview might appear later this fall around the time that the iPhone 17 is launched.
Hindustan Times
18 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Apple to launch major Siri AI upgrade with iOS 26.4 by March 2026
Apple is getting ready to launch a major upgrade to Siri by March 2026, and this time, it promises to be more than just a voice assistant. According to online reports, the new Siri will roll out with iOS 26.4, and it will be powered by advanced artificial intelligence. This new version of Siri won't just answer simple questions or set alarms. Instead, it will understand context better, handle complex tasks, and even use on-screen content to give smarter responses. In short, Siri is becoming a lot more like ChatGPT or Google Assistant, but with a unique Apple twist. Apple first showcased the new AI-powered Siri at its WWDC 2024 event and promoted it heavily with the iPhone 16. Many users were excited and expected to use the smarter Siri soon after buying their phones. But Apple announced a delay in March 2025, and since then, there has been a lot of speculation about when the update would finally arrive. The main reason behind the delay was technical challenges. Apple engineers tried to combine the old Siri system with new AI features, but it didn't work well. In testing, this hybrid version failed about 33% of the time. So, Apple decided to rebuild Siri using its own large language model (LLM) to improve performance and reliability. What to expect? The new Siri will do more than just answer questions. It will act like a smart helper, understand your actions, and assist in real time. It can handle many tasks at once, such as setting reminders, sending messages, and opening apps using a single command. Apple is also working on a chatbot called Knowledge and a background mode called Siri Copilot that gives suggestions and helps with daily tasks. What's next? Apple says it's in no rush to release these features until they're fully ready. Executives have made it clear: they'd rather get it right than launch too soon and disappoint users. With competitors like Google and Microsoft pushing ahead in AI, Apple wants Siri to be both powerful and reliable. If things go as planned, Apple users could finally see a smarter, more helpful Siri in early 2026, changing how we use our devices every day. First Published Date: 13 Jun, 20:51 IST
Time of India
21 hours ago
- Time of India
This is when Apple's big Siri upgrade may come
Apple is targeting spring 2026 for the release of its long-delayed Siri upgrade, marking nearly two years since the company first announced the enhanced AI features. According to Bloomberg, the revamped voice assistant will arrive as part of iOS 26.4, potentially launching in March based on Apple's historical release patterns. The upgraded Siri was originally showcased at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2024, promising features like personal context awareness and cross-app functionality. However, the company has repeatedly pushed back the release timeline due to technical challenges that left the features working correctly only about two-thirds of the time. "This just doesn't work reliably enough to be an Apple product," Apple's software chief Craig Federighi told The Wall Street Journal, offering his most candid assessment of the delays. The admission represents a rare moment of transparency from Apple, which typically avoids demonstrating features it cannot deliver on schedule. Quality over deadlines by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Perdagangkan CFD Emas dengan Broker Tepercaya IC Markets Mendaftar Undo Apple's leadership has emphasized that product quality takes precedence over meeting artificial deadlines, even as competitors advance their AI capabilities. "We never want to disappoint customers," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's marketing chief, in the Wall Street Journal interview. "But it would've been more disappointing to ship something that didn't hit our quality standard, that had an error rate that we felt was unacceptable." Federighi explained to YouTuber iJustine that reliability is crucial for user adoption: "When you have an experience like asking Siri to do something, either it becomes something you can depend on reliably, or it's something in the end you're not going to use." The technical challenges stemmed from Apple's attempt to merge two different underlying architectures. Bloomberg reported that Siri's system was split between existing capabilities for basic tasks and newer platforms for advanced features, creating bugs that necessitated rebuilding the entire system. Architecture rebuild changes everything "We realized that V1 architecture, we could push and push and put in more time, but if we tried to push that out in the state it was going to be in, it would not meet our customer expectations or Apple standards," Federighi told TechRadar and Tom's Guide in a joint podcast interview. The delays have had broader implications for Apple's product roadmap. According to Bloomberg, a planned smart home hub that relies heavily on the new Siri features has also been postponed indefinitely, preventing Apple from entering a new product category. The company's approach differs significantly from competitors like OpenAI and Google, focusing on integrating AI throughout its ecosystem rather than creating standalone chatbot applications. As Joswiak noted in the podcast discussion: "The features that you're seeing in Apple Intelligence isn't a destination for us. There's no app on intelligence." AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Report: Siri's Long-Delayed AI Features May Arrive With iOS 26.4
PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing. Eager to try out those AI-powered Siri features Apple announced last year? Sorry, you will have to wait until next year. As Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the development, Apple is now targeting a spring 2026 release for some long-delayed Siri AI features. That includes Siri's ability to tap into users' personal context and take actions based on what's displayed on screen. In a demo at WWDC 24, an Apple executive asked Siri for their mom's flight details. Siri scanned an email from their mom to find the flight information and then checked the live status online before providing a response. This version of an advanced Siri was supposed to arrive with iOS 18. However, in March, Apple said, "It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features, and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year." While "coming year" might have suggested 2025, Apple clarified earlier this week that it meant 2026. Bloomberg now reports that the update will arrive with iOS 26.4. Historically, the ".4" update for iOS has arrived in March, and the same can be expected of iOS 26. The exact date is yet to be decided, but internally, Apple isn't expecting a date beyond spring, sources tell Bloomberg. For the delay, Apple has blamed Siri's underlying V1 architecture. The team working on Siri found "that the limitations of the V1 architecture weren't getting us to the quality level that we knew our customers needed and expected," said Craig Federighi, Apple's software boss, in an interview following WWDC 2025. Once the company realized the issues, it moved to V2. Federighi called it a "deeper end-to-end architecture that we knew was ultimately what we what we wanted to create to get to the full set of capabilities that we wanted for Siri." An earlier report also suggested that things started falling apart when Apple tried to integrate old Siri code with new. The wait for a supercharged Siri continues. In the meantime, Apple must also deal with the lawsuits that stemmed from its inability to release these features on time.
