When Apple unveiled Apple Intelligence at WWDC 2024 in mid-June, we knew the vision Apple laid out would take time to complete. iOS 18 did not deliver any AI features during the first beta tests over the summer, a big indication that the iPhone 16 would launch without any AI features on board.
Leaks made it clear that Apple will start rolling out Apple Intelligence in phases, with the first feature set to drop about a month after the iPhone 16. Apple confirmed it all while also turning the delayed AI features into the biggest selling point for the new iPhones.
With November almost over, iOS 18 lacks ChatGPT integration (unless you’re on the latest beta), and the smarter Siri that can control apps better than before isn’t coming until next spring.
It turns out that Apple might employ a similar approach for iOS 19. Some features might be unveiled at WWDC 2025, but you might have to wait until 2026 to enjoy them on devices that support Apple Intelligence. Among them, we’ll get a new “LLM Siri” chatbot that Apple is developing. The LLM Siri would be similar to ChatGPT. That is, it’ll let you conduct conversations identical to what ChatGPT can do.
The Siri experience coming via the iOS 18.4 update can’t do that. As Mark Gurman explains in his latest Power On newsletter, the first version of Apple Intelligence will make “cosmetic” changes. You get the new user interface, and support for typing questions to Siri instead of speaking them.
More interesting ar Siri’s new abilities to access user data for contextual information about the user and control third-party apps via the new App Intents software. However, Gurman points out that Siri isn’t getting a ChatGPT-like model for these tasks:
These upcoming upgrades will make Siri easier to use on a day-to-day basis, but it’s not the brain transplant that the service really needs. Siri is still based on an outdated infrastructure — AI models that have been overtaken by the technology used by ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. Siri hasn’t yet been rebuilt for the generative AI age, even if Apple is trying to create the impression that it has.
That’s why Apple partnered with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT into iOS 18. Siri can’t match that functionality.
But Apple is developing a Siri chatbot of its own, which is called LLM Siri internally. Apple is reportedly actively running and testing the new service. LLM Siri will be more conversational and use Apple’s large language models.
While that’s an exciting development, albeit unconfirmed, it’s not exactly good news. Apple plans to unveil the LLM Siri at WWDC 2025, when iOS 19 will be announced. However, LLM Siri will not become available until the spring of 2026.
It’s not just the LLM Siri chatbot that will be released in 2026. Gurman says that a “larger-than usual number of features scheduled for iOS 19 (beyond the new Siri) are already postponed until spring 2026 (when iOS 19.4 debuts).”
That’s not necessarily surprising, considering what we saw with iOS 18. Maybe it’s for the best, too. I’d rather get polished, finished features on my iPhone than beta tests getting released commercially with warnings that I might encounter issues. The delay to 2026 wouldn’t even be that big. After all, Apple’s biggest rivals are struggling with their own AI upgrades. Apple has time to catch up after having started late in the game.
That said, Gurman doesn’t say which iOS 19 features will be delayed to 2026 and whether they’re all AI functionalities.
