Apple’s next-gen Siri won’t be a chatbot yet, full conversational AI planned later

Rather than developing it on their own, Apple chose to work with Google and use Gemini as the basis for improving the intelligence of Siri. Apple had also considered working with OpenAI and Anthropic, but the deal didn’t work out due to cost and strategy issues. Gemini was an attractive option for Apple because it was improving rapidly and had flexible terms. Apple will still offer Siri as part of its "Apple Intelligence" system, but the real AI power behind it will come from Gemini.

According to reports, Apple plans to announce the updated Siri alongside iOS 26.4 in the second half of February. It's expected that the update will enter beta testing around that time and be released more broadly in March or early April. Internally, this version is said to run on "Apple Foundation Model version 10," with Gemini running in the background through Apple's "private cloud compute" infrastructure.

It won't be a full-fledged chatbot yet. Instead, the February update focuses on practical improvements. It's expected that the new Siri will better understand what's on your screen, remember personal context, and perform tasks more smoothly between apps. Summarizing messages, extracting information from emails, or handling multi-step requests should feel more natural and less frustrating than before. However, the real change may come later this year. According to reports, Apple plans to introduce a fully conversational, "chatbot-style" Siri at WWDC 2026 alongside iOS 27. That version will support longer conversations and compete directly with modern AI assistants.