Apple’s so promised Digital Assistant Siri assistant is facing engineering problems and software bugs, threatening to postpone or limit its launch, according to people with knowledge of the subject.
The company first revealed plans for a new artificial intelligence Siri at its developer conference last June and even announced some of the features for customers. However, Apple is still running to finish the software, the sources said, which asked not to be identified due to the private nature of the situation. Some features, originally planned in April, may have to be postponed until May or later, they said.
Siri’s reformulation is a central element of the Apple Intelligence platform, the company’s effort to update the AI and encourage iPhone update. Even before problems with Siri, Apple Intelligence had a troubled release. The software has been launched in stages since its debut in October, and some features – such as news summaries – have been criticized by failures.
Being able to hit the crab is especially crucial to Apple, which presented the digital assistant in 2011 as an innovative interface. After being behind competitors, technology began to represent the company’s deficiencies in artificial intelligence.
Siri’s latest developments are separated from the company’s effort to add AI functionality to the devices in China. In this effort, Apple is working with Alibaba and Baidu to create a system that meets Chinese regulators, Bloomberg News said on Thursday.
A spokesman for the California-based company, California, refused to comment on the Siri project.
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Last June, Apple announced three main improvements that would come to Siri:
- The ability to access a customer’s data to better answer questions and take action.
- A new system that would allow the assistant to control applications more accurately.
- The ability to see what is currently on a device screen and use this context to better serve users.
At the time, Apple hinted that the changes would not be released until 2025, but it was not yet clear how long they would take to arrive. Internally, the company planned to introduce technology as part of iOS 18.4, the version of its mobile operating system to be released in April.
However, Apple is now considering postponing or limiting at least some of the reformulations to iOS 18.5, which will be released as early as possible in May, the sources said.
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The goal is, ultimately, to offer a more versatile Siri that can integrately access customer information and communications. For example, users will be able to request a file or music they discussed with a friend by text message. The crab then would automatically recover this item. Apple also demonstrated Siri’s ability to quickly locate someone’s driver’s license number reviewing their photos.
In an especially convincing part of the demonstration, a host used Siri to quickly locate her mother’s flight and lunch reserve plans, researching the email history and text messages. Now this specific feature is at risk of being postponed according to the sources.
Within Apple, many employees who test the new Siri have found that these features do not yet work consistently. And the deadline for the software to be ready is approaching. Although iOS 18.4 is not publicly released until April, the beta version for developers is expected to debut next week.
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Another option under discussion is to include the features at the launch of April, but with them disabled by default. In this scenario, Apple could automatically activate them in the update of iOS 18.5.
Apple has discussed doing this with the personal data feature, as well as the tools to allow Siri to control device applications and functions more accurately. But that could affect other Apple products.
Control improvements – an enhanced version of something called Intents App – are central to the operation of the company’s next smart home hub. This product, an AI device to control intelligent appliances and FaceTime, is expected to be released later this year.
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Despite an intense marketing campaign for Apple Intelligence, the company is fighting internally with a difficult reality: AI platform is behind rival systems such as OpenAi’s chatgpt, Alphabet Google Gemini, and goal. The company’s AI and machine learning team has faced difficulties to comply with deadlines, the sources said, and some engineers believe the system was rushed to the market to please an AI -obsessed wall street.
After Apple’s quarterly results last month, CEO Tim Cook praised the software and said the company “would continue to invest in innovation.”
“Apple Intelligence opens an exciting new border and is already raising experiences on iPhone, Ipad and Mac,” he said during a conference call.
Iphone sales unexpectedly fell about 1% during the quarter of vacation, suggesting that AI resources did not help propel sales. But Cook stated that the new iPhone 16 performed better in countries where Apple Intelligence was available.
Behind the scenes, Apple is seeking to make changes to its AI and machine learning organization, the sources said. The company recently hired Kim Vorrath, a software veteran, known for improving the original and Vision Pro iPhone software for a senior position on the team. AI’s effort is led by John Giannandrea, a former Google senior executive who joined Apple in 2018.
The gradual launch of Apple Intelligence features impacted the broader software development cycle. The company is preparing for major updates related to the launch of iPhone 17 in autumn, but delays in iOS 18 capabilities are reverberating throughout the process. In some cases, IOS 19 resources that were planned by the end of this year can be postponed by 2026.
Users are waiting for other Apple Intelligence features, as well as the new Siri. This includes IPAD and MAC email messages, a priority notifications interface to highlight important warnings and a sketch style in the Image Playground app to create images. The email update will probably be part of Ipados 18.4 and MacOS 15.4, as reported by Bloomberg News. It is now available on iPhone.
Changes in this year’s Siri are a prelude to a more ambitious effort to make the assistant more conversational and closer to ChatgPT. This update is planned to be released as early as possible by 2026, as reported by Bloomberg News.
© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.
