Apple is building an LLM-powered Siri

For years, asking Siri a question has usually meant getting a frustrating list of web links or a cheerful confession that it didn't understand.

Even with the flashy new glow in iOS 18 and a Type to Siri toggle, the voice assistant still feels fundamentally stuck in the past compared to modern conversational bots.

Apple is reportedly preparing a massive overhaul. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the tech giant is currently developing an all-new assistant dubbed "LLM Siri" by employees behind closed doors.

Testing as a standalone app with a 2026 debut

The project is currently being tested on iPhones, iPads, and Macs as a standalone internal application. If everything pans out, this new assistant is expected to eventually replace the current Siri entirely.

Powered by Apple's own new language models, the revamped assistant aims to hold natural back-and-forth conversations, handle sophisticated requests quickly, and sound far less robotic.

It will also integrate deeply with Apple Intelligence tools like text summarization and writing, using Apple's App Intents framework to trigger actions across third-party apps.

A recent Apple job posting for a Senior Machine Learning Engineer confirmed this direction, noting the role involves evaluating Apple Intelligence and using real-world data to revamp the Siri experience.

The catch is the timeline. While Apple could unveil the AI alongside iOS 19 and macOS 16 in fall 2025, Gurman reports that LLM Siri likely won't ship to users until spring 2026, though internal schedules could still slip.

Why it matters

We think this report reveals both Apple's long-term vision and its glaring short-term weakness.

Relying on ChatGPT integrations in iOS 18.2 and potentially Gemini down the road is essentially an admission that Apple lacks a competitive conversational foundation of its own. Waiting until 2026 to launch a true LLM assistant leaves a massive window open for Google and OpenAI to dominate mobile voice agents.

However, Apple's strength has never been raw foundation models—it is system-level integration. If LLM Siri successfully pairs conversational reasoning with Apple's App Intents framework, it could control apps and navigate on-screen workflows in a way third-party chatbots simply cannot match on iOS.

For users today, the takeaway is clear: don't buy hardware expecting a conversational genius anytime soon. While Apple Intelligence features will slowly trickle in, the actual Siri brain transplant is still a distant promise.