Apple Delays Gemini-Powered Siri Overhaul Beyond March Update

Siri's Latest Setback

Apple's ambitious plans to deliver a fully overhauled Siri assistant have hit another snag, with several key features now being pushed beyond the iOS 26.4 update that had been targeted for March. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the company is working to spread the new capabilities across future software versions, potentially delaying some until iOS 26.5 in May or iOS 27 in September.

What's Being Delayed

Among the features most likely to slip is an expanded ability for Siri to tap into personal data, which would let users ask the assistant to search through old text messages, locate content shared by friends, and act on it immediately. Voice-based control of in-app actions is also running behind schedule, though Apple maintains these features will still arrive as part of a future iOS 26 update.

Internal testing has revealed accuracy problems and instances where the assistant falls back on ChatGPT instead of using the Gemini-powered technology that Apple partnered with Google to deploy. The new system reportedly achieves a ninety-two percent success rate on complex queries in benchmarks, a significant improvement over the fifty-eight percent recorded by the legacy architecture, but real-world reliability remains inconsistent.

The Billion-Dollar Partnership

The delays come just weeks after Apple finalised a landmark deal with Google in January, investing approximately one billion dollars annually for access to Google's advanced one point two trillion parameter Gemini AI model. Before settling on Google, Apple had considered its own models as well as options from Anthropic.

Leadership Changes

The ongoing struggles have already prompted executive-level changes. In December, AI chief John Giannandrea stepped down after his division was reportedly dubbed "AIMLess" internally. He was replaced by Amar Subramanya, who brings experience from both Microsoft and Google.

What May Still Arrive

Despite the setbacks, some features such as image generation and web search capabilities were tested as part of iOS 26.4 and may still be included in the March update. The first developer beta is scheduled to arrive the week of twenty-three February.