It goes without saying, Apple’s approach to developing its AI-infused version of Siri has gone very wrong in many ways. Most of the features intended to ship alongside iOS 18 haven’t yet arrived, despite being 10 months past the initial unveiling of iOS 18. Apple has even officially confirmed the delayed launch, stating that the features would launch “in the coming year.”
However, according to numerous reports – Apple has a strategy to bounce back with iOS 19. Here’s how.
The problem
To put it short, the ultimate issue with Siri is that Apple had to rush things together for the unveiling of iOS 18.
Apple would’ve liked to rewrite all of the architecture for Siri prior to the release of iOS 18, but ultimately – they didn’t have the time to. Per Bloomberg:
The current iOS 18 version of Siri essentially has two brains: one that operates the legacy Siri commands, like timers and making calls, and another that handles more advanced queries. The latter capability will be able to tap user data and already is used to not get confused when people change their request mid-command.
In order to get Apple Intelligence out the door as part of iOS 18, the company didn’t have time to meld the two systems together. That means the software doesn’t work as smoothly as it could.
Ideally, this melded system would’ve worked out just fine. However, this approach turned out to be far from smooth. Engineers were consistently fighting through a “rash of bugs”, and ultimately things weren’t working as intended. Apple software SVP Craig Federighi ultimately expressed concerns that none of the features were working as intended.
How Apple aims to fix things
With iOS 19, Apple intends to rebuild the Siri architecture from the ground up. This’ll ideally allow for the three promised Siri features for iOS 18.4 to finally come to fruition. Additionally, Apple has undergone major leadership shakeups in its AI department, which’ll ideally result in better execution.
Here are the details on Apple’s new Siri architecture, per Mark Gurman:
For iOS 19, Apple’s plan is to merge both systems together and roll out a new Siri architecture. I expect this to be introduced as early as Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June of this year — with a launch by spring 2026 as part of iOS 19.4.
This new system will finally phase out the legacy Siri architecture, one that’s stuck with us for over a decade.
Last but not least, Apple recently handed the keys to Siri to Vision Pro chief Mike Rockwell, and he’s quickly overhauling leadership:
Mike Rockwell, head of engineering for the assistant, is replacing much of Siri’s leadership with lieutenants from his Vision Pro software group, according to people with knowledge of the matter. He’s also restructuring teams related to speech, understanding, performance and user experience.
Many Apple employees working on Siri have reportedly complained about its leadership, so this is an important change as well.
While it’s too early to call, it certainly sounds like Apple will have its AI strategy far more fleshed-out this year than they did at WWDC24.
My favorite Apple accessories on Amazon:
Follow Michael: X/Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
