Apple was reportedly planning to introduce an AI-powered upgrade for Siri in iOS 18.4, but that might no longer be in the cards for the company. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that due to numerous engineering problems and software bugs involving the AI-enhanced Siri, Apple might have to delay the launch to a future update.
Sources told Bloomberg that Apple “is still racing to finish the software” internally. They say that employees testing Siri haven’t been able to consistently get the new features to work. While iOS 18.4 isn’t expected to be released to the public until April, the first beta software could roll out as early as next week, adding even more pressure.
Therefore, Apple has some choices to make. One option is to delay the Siri upgrade altogether and wait for iOS 18.5, which could arrive as early as May. Another option is to ship the upgrade but deactivate all the features that don’t work yet. That obviously would not be an ideal solution, but at least Apple could say that it shipped the new Siri on time.
New features in the works include the ability to sort through personal data to answer questions and take actions, understand context based on what’s on the screen, and perform significantly more actions within both first-party and third-party apps.
“Users have been waiting for other Apple Intelligence features, beyond the new Siri,” Gurman pointed out in his Friday report. “That includes AI sorting of mail messages on the iPad and Mac, a priority notifications interface for highlighting important alerts, and a sketch style in the Image Playground app for creating images.”
Whether or not Apple can get the new Siri up and running by April, it’s clear that the company is struggling to catch up with rivals in the fast-paced AI world.
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