Apple Intelligence’s Smarter Siri Could Arrive This Fall
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Following a report this week revealing the internal turmoil behind Apple’s ambitious Siri improvements, we’re seeing a glimmer of hope that at least some of Apple’s promised enhancements could arrive sooner rather than later — possibly even in iOS 19.0 this fall.
In an article titled What’s Wrong With Apple, Tripp Mickle of The New York Times echoes much of the information we’ve heard from The Information’s Wayne Ma and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman about Apple’s struggles. However, while Gurman and Ma spoke of engineering and AI personnel issues, Mickle casts a broader net.
While Apple’s Machine Learning and AI Strategy group dealt with internal infighting and personnel issues, they reportedly had trouble convincing Apple’s Chief Financial Officer, Luca Maestri, to open the company’s pocketbook to purchase much-needed AI chips.
According to Mickle, the problem began in 2023 when Apple’s senior VP of the AI group, John Giannandrea, asked CEO Tim Cook to approve the purchase of more AI GPU chips to help build the necessary large language models (LLMs). At that time, Apple was well behind the curve, with only 50,000 five-year-old GPUs in operation. By contrast, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Meta were all buying hundreds of thousands of chips for their AI server farms.
While Cook approved a plan to double the team’s chip budget, Maestri reportedly overruled him. It’s unclear how those lines of authority work, but sources say that the CFO “reduced the increase to less than half that,” telling the team they’d need “to make the chips they had more efficient” instead.
As a result, the AI/ML team had to use external providers like Google and Amazon to make up for the shortfall in data center computing power. Apple also ended up using some Google-made chips when it couldn’t source the premium and highly demanded Nvidia chips used by its rivals.
As odd as it sounds for a trillion-dollar company to have budget problems, it shows what may have been a lack of clear priorities. However, those were also far from the only issues. Sources for the Times also confirm the stories of political infighting we wrote about yesterday from a report by The Information, adding that it also came in what was effectively a leadership vacuum in the company after “a broader exodus of talent from Apple.”
Over the years, Siri has been passed around the company like a hot potato, but there’s also often been conflict about whose division it should fall under. When Apple Intelligence began ramping up, pieces of the project became divided between the AI/ML division, under Robby Walker, who reported directly to Giannandrea, and the Software Engineering division, ultimately run by Craig Federighi, with the Siri aspects handled by Sebastien Marineau-Mes.
The Times also notes that Cook takes a much more hands-off approach than his predecessor. Steve Jobs was famous for getting into the thick of things and wouldn’t hesitate to roll a few heads if teams weren’t meeting his expectations. By comparison, Cook, who was promoted into the CEO suite after many years as the company’s Chief Operations Officer, “has been hesitant over the years to provide clear and direct guidance on product development,” sources say.
What This Means for Siri 2.0
Last month, Apple reportedly transferred the entire Siri project into Federighi’s division, placing it under the direct leadership of Mike Rockwell.
Rockwell is the guy who led the Vision Pro from conception to launch, and he’s brought over some of his heaviest hitters from that team, including “fixers” Kim Vorrath and Aimee Nugent, both of whom have a solid reputation for righting sinking ships in the company.
That move came after Apple publicly conceded in early March that Siri improvements won’t arrive before iOS 19. While several sources believe that meant early 2026 — possibly iOS 19.4 — the Times reveals that we may see at least a few of them show up this fall.
Apple hasn’t canceled its revamped Siri. The company plans to release a virtual assistant in the fall capable of doing things like editing and sending a photo to a friend on request, three people with knowledge of its plans said.
Tripp Mickle, The New York Times
It’s unclear from that description whether Apple will deliver on everything that it showed off at last year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), as “editing and sending a photo to a friend on request” is somewhat simpler than the more sophisticated personalized context features that can dig through your email, calendar, and files to piece together an itinerary. As with Apple Intelligence in iOS 18, we may see Apple take a staged approach, adding new improvements in each iOS 19 point release.
Nevertheless, it would be a good way of throwing customers a bone to reassure them that Apple is still working on it. However, some Apple execs also don’t see a huge need for the company to be in a hurry. As far as they’re concerned, rivals like Google and Meta haven’t “figured out A.I. yet,” so Apple still has time to get it right.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
