Apple had to come clean a few days ago and reveal that the smart Siri features it demoed at WWDC 2024 would not be available via Apple Intelligence this year. They might hit the iPhone, iPad, and Mac next year. Apple also withdrew that ad featuring Bella Ramsay that advertised the smart Siri features in Apple Intelligence ahead of the iPhone 16 launch.
We all realized the smart Siri Apple envisioned is practically vaporware, a rare event for Apple. The company essentially announced an advanced AI concept at WWDC 2024 that it could not deliver. Apple insiders like John Gruber drew scathing reviews of Apple’s behavior related to Siri, further reinforcing the idea the AI assistant was vaporware.
Since then, we heard of Apple internal meetings over Apple Intelligence, including a purported exec reshuffling that Apple is yet to announce.
Apple didn’t fire anyone over the Siri fiasco, but the company reportedly appointed the Vision Pro boss Mike Rockwell to lead the Siri efforts. Like I said before, I still expect that smart Siri version to be available in Apple Intelligence on iPhone, no matter how long it takes. Apple seems determined to deliver it, too.
However, when Apple had to acknowledge the delay of smart Siri, it was clear that lawsuits would follow, particularly after Apple pulled that ad. That first lawsuit is already here, alleging Apple engaged in false advertising to sell the iPhone 16 series.
According to Axios, the Clarkson Law Firm filed the federal lawsuit on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose. The suit seeks class-action status, asking for unspecified damages for those who bought Apple Intelligence-ready iPhones and other hardware.
The lawsuit has just been filed, and it’ll take some time to settle, but this potential class action already looks like it will cost Apple. After all, Apple received plenty of criticism in the weeks following the iPhone 16 launch for advertising Apple Intelligence features for the new phones that would not be there when buyers received their units.
Apple Intelligence features would roll out in phases, starting with iOS 18.1. The world accepted this outcome, trusting Apple would ship the promised software features. There was no precedent suggesting Apple might run into issues.
That’s what the lawyers point out right from the start.
“Apple’s advertisements saturated the internet, television, and other airwaves to cultivate a clear and reasonable consumer expectation that these transformative features would be available upon the iPhone’s release,” the suit writes.
“This drove unprecedented excitement in the market, even for Apple, as the company knew it would, and as part of Apple’s ongoing effort to convince consumers to upgrade at a premium price and to distinguish itself from competitors deemed to be winning the AI-arms race.”
The lawyers go further, saying that Apple knew the Apple Intelligence features it was demoing were not working.
“But Apple also knew none of it was true. Recently, under mounting pressure from outraged consumers and industry scrutiny, Apple was forced to acknowledge that the heralded Apple Intelligence features, including the Siri enhancements that fueled the greatest consumer excitement, did not exist then and do not exist now,” they say.
As Gruber aptly pointed out a few days ago, Apple clearly knew that the smart Siri features in the WWDC 2024 presentation were not good enough to demo live in front of a large or more limited audience. The absence of the smart Siri feature in the iOS 18.4 beta release further suggested Apple had big problems on its hands.
“Worse, Apple has admitted that if these features ever materialize, it won’t be until 2026—two years after its pervasive marketing campaign built on a lie. 8,” the suit reads. “Against this backdrop, Apple deceived millions of consumers into purchasing new phones they did not need based on features that do not exist, in violation of multiple false advertising and consumer protection laws.”
Unsurprisingly, the lawsuit (available at this link) contains screenshots from the Ramsey commercial and Apple’s website. It also includes claims Apple made about Apple Intelligence and the smart Siri assistant coming to iOS 18.
What happens next? We’ll have to wait a while to see this lawsuit play out. Before we ever get to a settlement, Apple will hold its WWDC 2025 event in a few months, during which it will inevitably have to address the Apple Intelligence mess while unveiling its new software features for the coming year.
Apple will hopefully apologize for the smart Siri delays before WWDC, or at the event. But I can’t blame any iPhone buyer who purchased an iPhone 16 device if they want to join the lawsuit and seek damages from Apple.
