Bloomberg reported yesterday that Apple is in the process of testing a new feature dubbed “LLM Siri,” aiming for its introduction in iOS 19.
This feature is anticipated to be showcased during WWDC 2025 in June, but according to the report, we shouldn’t expect it to be available until spring 2026.
Siri’s Development Has Been Frustratingly Slow
Nevertheless, this doesn’t alter the fact that Siri has lagged behind the other leading intelligent assistants for a significant duration. The notorious “Here’s what I found on the web” answer has turned Siri into a target of numerous jokes.
Apple claimed that everything changed with the launch of iOS 18.
We’re entering a new era for Siri. Siri utilizes Apple Intelligence to gain incredible new abilities. With a fresh design, enhanced language comprehension, and the option to type to Siri whenever it’s convenient, interactions with Siri are now more intuitive than ever. With greater understanding of personal context and the power to perform actions across applications, Siri will assist you like never before.
The reality, however, is quite different. We’ve witnessed a handful of valuable enhancements, yet nothing significantly transformative that could truly be termed “a new era for Siri.” Apple’s small-print mentions that “some Apple Intelligence features will be rolled out through software updates in the months ahead.”
Now We’re Informed to Await 2026 for LLM Siri
While Apple encourages us to be patient for forthcoming iOS 18 updates for Siri, Bloomberg’s report indicates that LLM Siri—equipped with capabilities akin to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Llama, and others—will not come until iOS 19.
Furthermore, it seems that this new iteration won’t launch alongside the iPhone 17 series, instead, it will only be ready by spring 2026 at the earliest.
The company aims to formally unveil the overhaul alongside the upcoming iOS 19 and macOS 16 updates, which are internally referred to as Luck and Cheer. However, like Apple Intelligence this fall, the new features aren’t expected to be immediately available with the next hardware release. Instead, Apple plans to introduce the new Siri to the public as early as spring 2026, approximately a year and a half from now.
Privacy Represents a Major Challenge for Apple
However, this slow evolution is largely influenced by Apple’s strong commitment to privacy. The company prefers as much functionality as possible to occur on the device rather than relying on cloud processing, and it aims for whatever cloud actions are necessary to be as privacy-oriented as possible.
This approach contrasts sharply with Google’s methods. A cursory examination of Google’s numerous privacy policies reveals that the company effectively uses your data from various sources—including web searches and Google Maps activities—to enhance Assistant’s responses, including data shared by third parties.
Google leverages information that you authorize, such as your device contacts or interactions across Google sites and applications, to generate more insightful responses through Google Assistant. It can also receive information from third-party services in accordance with their own privacy policies when you opt to interact with those services via Google.
While this approach empowers the intelligent assistant, it also grants it extensive access to your personal information. Determining whether this trade-off is worthwhile is subjective, but Apple has chosen to prioritize user privacy significantly.
The Results Will Justify the Wait
If you’re fully invested in the Apple ecosystem, like many of us, it seems we can actually achieve the best of both worlds.
A substantial volume of the personal data required for Siri to operate as a genuinely intelligent and helpful assistant resides right on our devices—Apple Calendar, Contacts, Files, Health, Mail, Maps, Messages, Wallet, and others. Additionally, we can grant Siri access to specific third-party applications of our choosing, all located on our devices.
Once Siri gains access to these applications, it finally has the potential to be as powerful as competing systems—while continuing to safeguard our privacy.
Ultimately, that’s the AI future I’d prefer: an assistant that knows a considerable amount about my life, functioning like a human personal assistant, but constrained to my devices and with my explicit consent. This is the LLM Siri Apple is developing, and while I would love to have these capabilities right now, I believe the anticipation will be worthwhile.
What Are Your Thoughts?
What do you think? If Siri can evolve into a genuinely powerful intelligent assistant while fully protecting our personal data, do you believe the wait will be justified?
Alternatively, would you prefer Apple to emulate Google and utilize our personal data from various sources to expedite its development?
We invite you to participate in our poll and share your opinions in the comments.
Image: DMN collage of images from Apple and Nik Shuliahin on Unsplash
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