After a massive delay, the new and improved Siri is finally making its 2026 debut, as promised. Not only will we finally hear more about Apple’s own on-device assistant, but we’ll also get to see what the Google Gemini upgrade did for it.
This report comes from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who claims that Apple wants to announce the new Siri in “the second half of February”. The prominent leaker also mentioned that the bitten fruit company will also take this opportunity to demonstrate the newly added Gemini-powered features.
Gurman added that after its reveal, this version of Siri will arrive with iOS 26.4, entering beta the same month ahead of a public release in March or early April. For reference, this version of Siri reportedly uses user data and on-screen content to handle contextual, multi-step tasks.
We previously reported that Siri will also receive chatbot-like features similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. However, Gurman notes that Apple plans to release this more advanced, conversational version of Siri in iOS 27 and will unveil it at the company’s annual developer conference, typically held in early June. Apple also expects to roll out the updated Siri, along with the Gemini-powered Apple Intelligence features, across iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27, with beta releases scheduled for this summer (June to August).
Lastly, the report touches on Apple’s push into AI besides Siri. This includes possible AI-powered features in Safari, search tools, and future operating systems. This signals a renewed push to compete in the generative AI space, especially since it has a lot of catching up to do. However, the report does not provide concrete examples or feature lists, so we can’t really be sure what the tech giant has in store for us in the future.
The broader AI improvements can wait, because Siri is the one that’s long overdue for a Gemini glow-up. On a more personal note, I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple holds back on revealing its AI plans until their respective launch dates are close by and confirmed, lest it face another major delay. But that bit is my opinion.
(Source: Bloomberg)
