Apple’s long-promised Siri overhaul is running into fresh turbulence, with new reports indicating that internal testing setbacks are pushing key features later than originally planned. Instead of arriving neatly in a spring iOS update, the rollout now looks increasingly staged, arriving in pieces across iOS 26.5 and potentially extending into iOS 27.
What makes this moment notable is that the delay is not just about shipping dates, it’s about reliability. According to Bloomberg reporting cited by multiple outlets, Apple’s next Siri is struggling with accuracy, response time, and consistent behavior, the kinds of issues that can quickly erode trust in an assistant meant to be more personal and more capable.
1) What’s being delayed, and why it matters
The delayed Siri upgrade is centered on “more personalized Siri” capabilities: understanding personal context, being aware of what’s on your screen, and taking more powerful actions within and across apps. These are the features that would move Siri from simple commands into the territory of a genuinely helpful daily assistant.
Apple publicly acknowledged as far back as March 7, 2025 that it needed more time. Apple spokeswoman Jacqueline Roy said the company anticipated rolling the features out in the coming year because “it’s going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features.” That statement helped reset expectations, yet it also put pressure on 2026 as the year Siri would catch up.
CNBC’s coverage at the time emphasized that the upgrades would enable actions across apps and incorporate “personal context,” and that they had been expected sooner. In other words, the delay isn’t about a minor tweak; it’s about the line capabilities Apple has been using to define Siri’s next era.
2) The new timeline: from iOS 26.4 to iOS 26.5, and possibly iOS 27
On Feb 11, 2026, multiple reports citing Bloomberg said Apple’s testing setbacks are pushing the Siri overhaul past iOS 26.4 (expected around March). The same reporting suggests the functionality is now trending toward iOS 26.5 (around May) and, for some components, even iOS 27 (around September).
The Verge summarized the situation as an “AI overhaul” that is slipping due to issues found during testing. TechCrunch similarly reported that the revamp was delayed again after testing trouble, with the release potentially split between a May update and the next major iOS generation in the fall.
Importantly, the reporting also frames Apple’s plans as “fluid,” with internal debate about how far the company can afford to push features without losing momentum. That uncertainty suggests Apple is not simply waiting for a single bug fix, it may be reworking how and when different Siri components are turned on.
3) What testers are seeing: slow answers, missed intent, and unreliable features
Bloomberg’s reporting, relayed by MacRumors on Feb 11, 2026, points to concrete failures that show up during internal use. Siri reportedly sometimes “doesn’t properly process queries” and “can take too long to respond,” two problems that directly undermine everyday usability.
Employees testing the new capabilities also reportedly say “not all of the features are working reliably.” The reliability concerns extend across the very pillars of the revamp: personalization, on-screen awareness, and deeper actions inside apps, features that need consistent performance to avoid feeling risky or random.
This emphasis on reliability helps explain why Apple might prefer a staged rollout. If certain features work well while others intermittently fail, shipping everything together could make the entire upgrade feel broken, even if only parts are struggling.
4) A staged rollout and the iOS 26.5 “preview” toggle
Another detail from the Feb 11, 2026 Bloomberg/MacRumors report is that Apple engineers were told to shift internal testing to iOS 26.5. That change signals more than a date slip; it suggests Apple is actively reorganizing the software train to match where the features can realistically stabilize.
MacRumors also reported that iOS 26.5 contains a “preview” toggle for Siri personalization. A preview switch is a classic strategy for risk management: it allows Apple to ship code and gather feedback while limiting exposure, especially when behavior may vary across devices, languages, apps, and user data profiles.
If this approach holds, users may see the new Siri arrive in layers: an early preview for personalization, followed later by broader on-screen understanding and cross-app actions as Apple gains confidence. That may frustrate people hoping for a single “new Siri day,” but it can reduce the chance of a high-profile failure.
5) The architecture challenge: unexpected fallbacks and model routing
One of the more surprising reported issues is that the new Siri sometimes “falls back” to ChatGPT for answers instead of the intended Gemini-based system. As described in the Feb 11, 2026 MacRumors summary of Bloomberg’s reporting, this is framed as part of the testing and architecture challenge.
While users may not care which model answers their question as long as it’s correct, Apple does care, because routing affects privacy posture, latency, costs, and consistency. If Siri unexpectedly shifts between systems, it can create uneven answer quality and unpredictable response times, especially under network constraints.
This also highlights the complexity of modern assistants: they are no longer a single “brain,” but an orchestration layer that decides what to run on-device, what to send to servers, and which model is best for a given task. Testing those decision paths is hard, and errors in routing can look like “Siri is broken,” even when the underlying models are fine.
6) Apple’s public messaging: “still coming in 2026,” but dates remain flexible
After the Feb 11, 2026 delay reports, Apple told CNBC that the upgraded Siri is still coming in 2026, even if the timing shifts within the year. MacRumors reported this follow-up on Feb 12, 2026, which helps anchor expectations: Apple is not backing away from the 2026 commitment.
MacRumors also noted a key nuance: Apple never publicly promised iOS 26.4 specifically, only “2026.” That means a slip from March to May (or later) may be a disappointment, but it does not necessarily contradict Apple’s public statements.
Still, this gap between internal targets and public commitments is exactly where frustration tends to build. Developers plan around OS releases, customers anticipate line features, and investors look for signs of momentum. Even if Apple stays within its public window, the optics of repeated internal slips can raise doubts about execution.
7) The business impact: investor nerves and the market’s AI scoreboard
Delays in flagship AI features now have immediate financial consequences, and Apple is not immune. A Feb 13, 2026 MarketWatch report tied fears about Siri’s delayed AI upgrades to roughly a 5% drop in Apple’s stock and an estimated $200 billion hit to market capitalization, attributing the move to investor concern following the Bloomberg reporting.
That reaction underscores how the market is scoring big tech in 2026: not just on hardware sales, but on demonstrable AI progress. Siri has long been viewed as an area where Apple must close the perceived gap, so each delay becomes a proxy for broader questions about Apple’s AI pace.
At the same time, Apple’s brand is built on shipping polished experiences, not demos. If the choice is between launching an inconsistent assistant and waiting to deliver something that feels “Apple-quality,” the company may accept short-term criticism to protect long-term trust, even if Wall Street doesn’t love the wait.
Apple delaying Siri’s rollout after testing setbacks is a reminder that next-generation assistants are as much an engineering reliability problem as they are a model-quality problem. Reports of slow responses, misprocessed queries, and inconsistent feature behavior suggest Apple is still working to make the experience dependable enough for wide release.
For users, the most realistic expectation now is a phased Siri upgrade: a possible “preview” in iOS 26.5, with additional capabilities arriving later, potentially into iOS 27, while Apple still maintains that the new Siri is coming sometime in 2026. The coming months will reveal whether Apple can turn these setbacks into a more stable, more personal assistant, or whether the calendar keeps slipping.
