- New report says more personal Siri will launch with iOS 26.4
- This updated Siri will use fundamental models created in Gemini
- It comes just days after Apple confirmed a partnership with Google.
Just nine days after Apple partnered with Google to use Google’s Gemini models and cloud technology to base its next generation of Apple Foundation models, it looks like the AI-powered Siri that the Cupertino-based giant first promised us all in 2024 could arrive much, much sooner than we thought.
According to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, rumors are doubling down about the launch of AI-powered Siri set to launch in spring 2026; now writes that it is “planned for iOS 26.4”, which will likely be released in the coming weeks or months. Right now, Apple is releasing iOS 26.3 to registered developers and people enrolled in the public beta program.
The report notes that iOS 26.4 will deliver on promised features that Apple first unveiled at WWDC 2024 as part of Apple Intelligence: things like Siri having a deeper personal understanding of you, based on what you can see on your screen, and being much smarter. Which means you could also get current information in a jiffy, making it a much more impactful and meaningful user experience.
Most importantly, though, is the timing: This report, which comes alongside a rumor that Apple will launch an AI chatbot with iOS 27, one that directly competes with Google Gemini and ChatGPT, notes that this updated Siri likely wouldn’t be possible without partnering with Google for that foundational foundation.
The iOS 26.4 version of AI-powered Siri “will be based on a system developed by Google known internally as Apple Foundation Models version 10,” the report reads before noting that it operates with 1.2 trillion parameters.
Clearly, access to Gemini models to build and keep Apple’s core models at the top has sped things up and could mean Apple will be able to deliver the smarter, more personal Siri it’s been promising for a long time, much sooner rather than later.
As for when iOS 26.4 will arrive, it will likely be in the spring, after early March and before the end of May. Which means it will likely arrive before WWDC 2026, which is expected in June.
Of course, Apple could save this news for a bit of consumer excitement at WWDC and send 26.4 to all users with a device that supports Apple Intelligence, and therefore access to the new Siri, right after the keynote ends.
It would be a moment of surprise and delight, but it would also leave out the usual developer testing and public beta periods. Either way, though, with Google Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude pushing what we’ve come to expect from AI tools and many of them getting more personal, we’ll have to wait and see if Apple’s truly smarter Siri is worth the wait and how it sets us up for the other big rumor: a Siri chatbot inside iOS 27.
Time will tell, but the important Siri update will still take a while to arrive.
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