Apple is delaying a smarter Siri and other iOS 19 features until 2026

iOS 19 is expected to be in development as the next operating system (OS) update for the iPhone. The successor to iOS 18 is expected to arrive in the summer of next year and debut in September, alongside the alleged iPhone 17 series. However, a new report suggests that iOS 19 will initially only include some of the new features rumored to be in development, and some of those may be delayed for release at a later date.

iOS 19 Features Release Date

In the latest Power On newsletterBloomberg’s Mark Gurman highlighted that Apple may have delayed a “larger than normal” number of iOS 19 features until spring 2026. The update is expected to be released in summer 2025 at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). shown. with a release planned alongside the new iPhone models in the fall. However, many of the rumors will reportedly only appear after the iOS 19.4 update.

This timeline of Apple’s next major update is similar to iOS 18. Although it rolled out in September, the update did not initially include Apple Intelligence – the company’s suite of artificial intelligence (AI) features previewed at WWDC 2024 . first wave of AI features with the iOS 18.1 update in October and not all of them have reached the release stage yet. Image Playground, Genmoji, and ChatGPT integration in Siri are some of the features that are still only accessible through the iOS 18.2 beta updates.

Another key feature of iOS 18 is a smarter Siri, powered by Apple Intelligence. It will reportedly arrive next year with the iOS 18.3 update. However, iOS 19 could go one step further by making a major overhaul to the voice assistant, making it more conversational. Apple reportedly plans to use more advanced proprietary large language models (LLMs), giving it capabilities such as text generation, conversation back-and-forth, and “more advanced requests in a faster way.” Rumor has it that this capability is just one of many that may become available with the iOS 19.4 update in 2026.