Apple has unveiled a complete overhaul of Siri, now called Siri AI, during its WWDC 2026 keynote, marking Tim Cook's final appearance as CEO. The update represents the most significant changes to the voice assistant since its 2011 debut, with a new standalone app across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro. Siri AI uses Apple's next-generation Foundation Models developed in collaboration with Google's Gemini, enabling multi-turn conversations, on-screen context awareness, and access to personal data like emails, messages, and photos. Users can now engage in natural back-and-forth dialogue, such as asking Siri to check the FIFA 2026 World Cup schedule and then plan a viewing party with culturally relevant food suggestions. Conversations sync privately across devices via iCloud and Apple's Private Cloud Compute, with options to set expiration periods. Reports indicate Apple pays around $1 billion annually for access to a 1.2 trillion-parameter Gemini model, with heavy queries processed on Google Cloud's Nvidia Blackwell B200 GPUs due to speed limitations in Apple's own infrastructure—details Apple did not confirm. Alongside Siri AI, Apple launched iOS 27, which brings performance improvements including up to 30% faster app launches, 70% faster photo loading, and 80% faster AirDrop transfers and Mail loading. The update supports all devices that ran iOS 26, including iPhone 11 and second-generation iPhone SE. macOS 27, officially named macOS Golden Gate, was also introduced, ending support for Intel-based Macs. iPadOS gains up to 5x faster browsing and file transfers when using external storage, though it did not receive a dedicated segment in the presentation. WatchOS 27, visionOS 27, and tvOS 27 were announced with minor updates. No new hardware was shown, making this a fully software-focused event centered on AI advancements.
Apple waited nearly two years to deliver the smarter Siri it first promised, even as it settled a $250 million class-action lawsuit over the delay. The reliance on Google's infrastructure for heavy AI processing undermines Apple's claim of fully private, on-device intelligence. Nigerian users expecting seamless local language or regional service integration will find no evidence of that in this rollout. The update prioritizes technical partnerships and ecosystem lock-in over tangible user innovation.
Editorial note: AI-assisted opinion, not established fact. Full disclaimer →
