Apple’s long-promised overhaul of Siri – the version the company billed as an AI assistant that can act on your behalf inside apps – appears to be running late. Internal testing reportedly exposed performance problems: the assistant sometimes took too long to finish tasks and at times failed to process requests at all. Those issues convinced some engineers that the launch would need to be pushed back by months, and now the company is said to be shifting to a phased feature release across multiple iOS updates rather than a single big debut.
Where the rollout stands
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple encountered sluggish behavior while testing the redesigned Siri – enough that the firm abandoned the idea of shipping the whole package at once. The revamped assistant had been tied to an iOS 26.4 update that was due in March, but sources now say only a subset of features may arrive then, with additional capabilities planned for iOS 26.5 in May and iOS 27 later this year.
Apple originally unveiled the AI-powered Siri in 2024 and described features like finding specific photos, tracking details, adding information to contact cards, editing photos, and turning note summaries into emails. The redesign was expected to reach users in 2025 but was delayed. At the time 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.”
What’s tripping it up
The chief complaints from testing sound basic but fatal for a voice assistant: slow responses and occasional failures to process queries. That’s especially damaging for a product Apple pitches as deeply integrated and capable of handling tasks across apps. Engineers feared that users would experience more frustration than delight if the full feature set went live while still this fragile.
”Shipping a multitask AI assistant requires both model performance and tight UI responsiveness,” says Dr. Ellen Park, senior analyst at Pacific AI Insights. ”If either side lags, the product feels broken even if the underlying intelligence is strong.”
Apple also confirmed in January that the new Siri will be powered by Google’s Gemini models. After careful evaluation, Apple said Google’s AI technology provides ”the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models” and that the partnership unlocks new experiences for users. For context, Gemini is Google’s family of large language models that competes with offerings from other major AI providers.
Why Apple is breaking the launch into pieces
Instead of shelving the project entirely, Apple appears to be opting for a conservative, incremental release. That approach lets the company ship stable, well-tested pieces first and then layer in more ambitious behaviors as performance improves. It also reduces the risk of a single, high-profile hiccup – issues during a big public release would be harder to contain than a gradual rollout spread across iOS 26.4, 26.5, and 27.
There’s precedent for this: companies with cloud-backed assistants often separate UI polish from backend model updates and ship in stages to validate real-world load and latency. Apple’s tight privacy and integration requirements add another layer of complexity, because any heavy model work must fit within its on-device goals and encryption policies.
What to watch next
Expect a trickle of new Siri features in March if iOS 26.4 ships as planned, but don’t assume the full vision will be available then. iOS 26.5 in May should bring more capabilities, with iOS 27 set to add yet another layer later this year. Apple’s careful pace suggests the company would rather under-promise and deliver a stable assistant than push a flashy but unreliable experience out the door.
For users and developers, the immediate signpost will be beta releases and developer notes – watch for latency disclosures, API changes, and any new system requirements. If Apple leans heavily on Gemini, server-side dependency and bandwidth considerations may influence how features behave across different iPhone models and regions.
In the months ahead, the gamble is whether incremental updates will restore confidence or make the rollout feel fragmented. If Apple can tune responsiveness and error rates before wider availability, the staged approach could sidestep a costly public stumble. If not, patience and skepticism from users will grow.
Bloomberg’s full report is available here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-11/apple-s-ios-26-4-siri-update-runs-into-snags-in-internal-testing-ios-26-5-27?embedded-checkout=true
Apple’s path forward will be a useful test of whether big tech can ship genuinely helpful, latency-sensitive AI features without degrading the smooth, responsive experience users expect from modern phones. Expect careful rollouts, lots of telemetry, and a slow-but-steady reveal over the next several iOS releases.
Conclusion: Apple is betting on incremental delivery to manage a complex technical transition. That means some users will see parts of the new Siri sooner, while others might wait months. Keep an eye on the iOS 26.4 and 26.5 betas for the first real clues about how capable and responsive the new assistant will feel in everyday use.
What to watch next: iOS beta notes, latency metrics in real-world testing, and any changes to device requirements that hint at heavier server-side AI work.