Apple appears ready to finally address long-standing concerns around Siri’s intelligence. After months of speculation, internal delays and leadership reshuffling, the company is expected to unveil a revamped Siri powered by Google’s Gemini AI as early as February.
This update will mark the first major public rollout tied to Apple’s partnership with Google, forming a key part of Apple’s broader artificial intelligence strategy. While the February release will significantly improve Siri’s capabilities, reports suggest a fully conversational, chatbot-style Siri is planned for WWDC 2026, alongside iOS 27.
Apple introduced Siri in 2010, making it one of the first mainstream voice assistants on smartphones. Over time, Siri expanded across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and HomePod, helping popularise voice-based computing.
However, the rapid rise of generative AI shifted expectations. Assistants like ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot began offering deeper reasoning, natural conversations and task automation—areas where Siri increasingly fell behind.
At WWDC 2024, Apple publicly acknowledged this gap, promising a “next-generation” Siri capable of understanding context and performing actions across apps. Internal challenges with Apple’s own AI models reportedly caused delays, forcing Apple to rethink how it could scale advanced AI reliably.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, those challenges are now being addressed through external AI partnerships.
Apple reportedly explored partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic before settling on Google. Negotiations with Anthropic are said to have stalled due to high costs, while collaboration with OpenAI raised strategic and control concerns.
Google’s Gemini models evolved rapidly and offered more workable commercial terms. Under the agreement, Gemini will underpin Siri and other Apple Intelligence features, initially running on Apple’s Private Cloud Compute servers, allowing Apple to maintain strong privacy controls.
According to Gurman’s Power On newsletter, Apple plans to announce the new Siri in the second half of February. Live demonstrations are expected as part of the rollout.
The update will arrive with iOS 26.4
Beta testing is expected to begin in February
Public release is likely in March or early April
Internally, the new system is referred to as Apple Foundation Models version 10, reportedly running at around 1.2 trillion parameters. While Apple will frame the upgrade as largely in-house, Gemini’s AI capabilities will play a central role behind the scenes.
The February update will not transform Siri into a full conversational chatbot. However, it will represent a major functional leap over the current assistant.
According to the report, Siri will:
Be more aware of what’s on your screen
Better understand personal context
Take actions within apps on your behalf
Users will be able to ask Siri to:
Summarise messages and notifications
Pull relevant details from emails
Complete multi-step tasks with fewer follow-ups
Apple’s goal is to make interactions feel smoother and more intuitive across iPhone, iPad and Mac.
The most significant upgrade is expected later this year. Apple is reportedly planning to unveil a fully reimagined, chatbot-style Siri at WWDC 2026, launching with:
iOS 27
iPadOS 27
macOS 27
This next-generation Siri will be powered by Apple Foundation Models version 11, supporting sustained, back-and-forth conversations, similar to ChatGPT and Gemini.
According to the report, this version will be competitive with Gemini 3 and significantly more capable than the February release. Some features may even run directly on Google’s cloud infrastructure to improve speed and accuracy.
Apple’s shift to Gemini signals a pragmatic change in strategy, prioritising real-world performance over strict in-house development. If executed well, the February update could finally make Siri useful again, while the iOS 27 chatbot could position Apple as a serious competitor in the AI assistant race.