Mark Gurman, Bloomberg’s Apple scoops guy, States the development of the latest version of Siri is not good in the tests. It’s apparently bad enough that Apple will only release a partial version when the updated voice assistant debuts in the next version of iOS. To be clear, the iOS 26.4 update is still expected to arrive next month, and it is still expected to have a new version of Siri, but it will be a bit of a letdown.

That doesn’t bode well for Apple. You may remember that Apple announced a version of Siri that works as an intelligent, seamless, automated personal assistant in your pocket for a long time. Apple even made a commercial about it with Bella Ramsey that will be released in the fall of 2024:

But that ad must have been pulled because Apple can’t ship a real-life version of what it describes. Asking Siri questions as if it were a chatbot and then getting smart answers pulled from your information in multiple apps is a function that definitely FELT possible based on current technology. But now it’s 2026 and Apple still hasn’t released that version of Siri.

And I was like wrote late last monthApple is considered a must-win in the AI ​​space after falling behind Google in AI authority. The AI ​​model driving the new, yet to be released, Siri is essentially being leased from Google for $1 billion per year. And who knows, maybe Google’s model is the cause of Siri’s latest problems, but it’s hard to imagine consumers blaming Google if Apple can’t come up with a solid new Siri product.

Gurman’s sources told him that tests of the new Siri found that it was processing questions incorrectly, and that it sometimes took “too long” — too long for what? We don’t know, but it’s clearly slow. Gurman points to the part from the Bella Ramsey ad where the AI ​​mines answers from your personal data, and answers questions like “What Greek restaurant did Larry say I should try?” as one that is likely to be delayed past iOS 26.4.

If it is iOS 26.5 that finally gets the Bella Ramsey version of Siri, and the user interface ends up being designed like the working version of the operating system used by Apple employees to make tests, Gurman said that there may be an optional toggle that allows the user to “preview” the new version of Siri, meaning that it will be framed as something that the user can try at their own risk.

So supposedly, these features of Siri are not canceled or eliminated, but delayed. Apple, Gurman said, will release a kind of partial Siri update in March with iOS 26.4, and then other new Siri features will be sprinkled in the 26.5 update in May, and the larger update of iOS 27 in September, when the iPhone 18 line is scheduled to launch. Although it “remains a fluid situation, and Apple’s plans are subject to change,” Gurman wrote.

Apparently, according to Gurman, another delayed feature is Siri-based voice controls for “App Intents,” a new framework for controlling Apple apps. States will play an “increasingly critical role within Apple’s developer platforms.” This delay may not upset the developers, who, judging from X posts, doesn’t seem to want to know how to use it.