According to Bloomberg News reporter Mark Gurman in his latest "Power On" columnReportApple's internal engineers are expected to release iOS 26.4 in early 2026.New version of Siri digital assistant service, its current test performance still seems to be "concerning".
Although there are still about six months before iOS 26.4 is officially released to the public, and theoretically there is still enough time for improvements, Mark Gurman has obtained information and pointed out that the performance of Apple's current internal test version "does not sound optimistic." He also predicts that if this highly anticipated new version of Siri ultimately "performs mediocrely," the loss of AI technology talent within Apple will probably intensify.
Apple's AI strategy delayed: Siri rebuild repeatedly postponed
In reality, Apple has struggled in the AI race. After facing significant external pressure, Apple finally announced its "Apple Intelligence" suite of AI features at WWDC 2024. However, during the past iOS 18 update cycle, only smaller features like "Genmoji," "Photo Removal," and ChatGPT integration were actually available.
However, the three core upgrades Apple promised at the time—a "new Siri" with deeply personalized contextual understanding, screen awareness, and the ability to perform actions on behalf of users within apps—ultimately failed to materialize. In a subsequent interview after WWDC 2025, Apple software chief Craig Federighi confirmed that the feature would be delayed by approximately a year due to not meeting the company's quality standards. The feature would be restructured with a completely new architecture, with a target release date of 2026.
Internal rumors about the "Bake-off" mechanism: Apple's self-developed rivalry with Google Gemini
According to reports, Apple is simultaneously pursuing two different technical paths to rebuild Siri, creating an internal "competition." One team is focused on using Apple's own device-side model, while the other team is trying to useGoogle's Gemini AI model, and runs through Apple's Private Cloud Compute.
Although the report did not specify which model was used in the early version of iOS 26.4, outside speculation is that the version currently causing internal concerns is likely to come from Apple's self-developed device-side model. Therefore, the version that is eventually released to the public may use Google's Gemini AI model.
