Apple Engineers Raise Concerns Over New AI-Enhanced Siri Performance in Early iOS 26.4 Builds

Apple’s ability to maintain a competitive edge in the consumer technology arena significantly relies on the advancements it introduces to Siri, its proprietary voice assistant, enhanced with practical, AI-driven functionalities.

However, recent reports suggest that the overhaul of Siri may not be meeting expectations, with lingering performance issues becoming apparent from within Apple’s development teams.

Concerns Surrounding Siri’s Performance in iOS 26.4 Testing

We’re still several months away, but there are concerns from some people testing iOS 26.4 — the OS version slated to include the new Siri — about the voice assistant’s performance.https://t.co/FvElHvXcAJ

— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) October 19, 2025

Mark Gurman from Bloomberg recently highlighted ongoing issues that Apple faces in revitalizing Siri. Reports indicate that engineers testing the upcoming iOS 26.4, expected in spring 2026, have returned with a number of performance-related concerns about the improved voice assistant.

While no specific issues have been detailed by Gurman, prior coverage from August sectioned off key difficulties, particularly regarding Siri’s performance across applications and in crucial scenarios such as banking transactions.

Apple is striving to implement several innovative features in the forthcoming iOS 26.4, which include:

In-app Actions:
- Siri will be able to execute context-sensitive tasks within compatible apps using voice commands, facilitating actions like adding items to grocery lists, sending messages, or playing music.
Personal Context Awareness:
- This feature will enable Siri to utilize personal information to provide customized assistance, such as retrieving specific podcast mentions from conversations in the Messages app.

Could Apple’s AI Strategy Challenges Have Led to Key Executive Departure?

The recent reports also shed light on the potential reasons behind the abrupt exit of Ke Yang, who had recently taken charge of Apple’s Answers, Knowledge, and Information (AKI) team. Now, he is reportedly seeking a promising opportunity at Meta Platforms Inc.

This AKI team is tasked with enhancing Siri’s capabilities to source information from the web, mirroring functionalities typical of OpenAI’s large language models.

Earlier this year, Apple cited limitations within Siri’s original architecture as a key factor behind performance shortcomings. Craig Federighi, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, emphasized the necessity for a complete overhaul of Siri into a V2 architecture, stating:

“We found that the limitations of the V1 architecture weren’t getting us to the quality level that we knew our customers needed and expected…if we tried to push that out in the state it was going to be in, it would not meet our customer expectations or Apple standards and we had to move to the V2 architecture.”

Yet, it appears that even the new V2 architecture is encountering its own set of challenges, as indicated by Gurman’s latest reports.

Source&Images