When Apple launched Siri in the autumn of 2011, it seemed like a peek into a science-fiction future.
At this year's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), the company is ready to present a completely redesigned Siri.
For years, Siri treated each interaction as separate, often losing context from one part of a conversation to the next.
The colourful orb that has long been at the bottom of the iPhone screen is expected to be phased out.
Since much of this processing will depend on Google’s servers, Apple is expected to focus on user privacy to address concerns.
When Apple launched Siri in the autumn of 2011, it seemed like a peek into a science-fiction future. Just months into Tim Cook’s role as chief executive, millions gained access to this digital assistant. It promised a voice-controlled companion that could anticipate human needs. However, over the years, the technology fell behind quicker competitors. The tech industry now expects Apple to deliver the assistant it promised a few years back. At this year's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), the company is ready to present a completely redesigned Siri. Internally codenamed Campo, this update is a key moment for Apple, coinciding with rumours of Tim Cook’s impending retirement and marking the end of a long-running project that began under his leadership.
Instead of leaning on exaggerated analysis, current industry expectations suggest an assistant being rebuilt from the ground up, adapting to a landscape reshaped by large language models.
Key to the updates in the upcoming operating systems—iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27—is Siri’s evolution into a fully developed chatbot. For years, Siri treated each interaction as separate, often losing context from one part of a conversation to the next. The new version is expected to adopt the smooth conversational style of OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude, handling complex, multi-turn dialogues effortlessly.
“Apple and Google have entered into a multi-year partnership to base the next generation of Apple Foundation Models on Google's Gemini models and cloud technology. These models will enhance future Apple Intelligence features, including a more personalised Siri coming this year,” states a joint announcement from Apple and Google released earlier this year.
While users will still experience Apple's unique branding, it will reportedly be Google's cloud infrastructure and computing power that enhance Siri’s reasoning capabilities.
This chatbot shift is likely to take a practical form through a dedicated Siri app. Mockups shared by industry insiders show an interface similar to a modern messaging app. Users might be able to type or speak into an ‘Ask Siri’ bar. A paperclip icon may allow them to attach photos, PDFs, and legal documents for real-time analysis. Past conversations could be stored on a dashboard of rectangular cards that display concise text summaries, allowing users to effortlessly return to old discussions.
Apple plans to set itself apart from the wider range of web-based chatbots with deep, system-level permissions. Tech analysts predict that the redesigned Siri will draw on personal context, securely scanning a person’s emails, text messages, notes, and calendar appointments to carry out very specific tasks.
Reports indicate this will be demonstrated through a feature called onscreen awareness. If a family member texts an address, a user might tell Siri to add the information to a contact card, and the assistant will read the screen to carry out the request. Additionally, a new system called CoreAI could allow outside developers to reveal their apps' internal functions to Siri. This would give the assistant the rare ability to navigate deeply within third-party software, combining multiple commands into one voice prompt.
These updates will require a visual change from what users are used to. The colourful orb that has long been at the bottom of the iPhone screen is expected to be phased out. Leaks suggest that Siri will now primarily exist within the Dynamic Island at the top of the display.
Swiping down from the center of the screen should bring up a new ‘Search or Ask’ panel, with a pill-shaped animation glowing within the island while the system processes information. This panel is likely to replace the old Siri Suggestions, serving as a gateway to launch apps, trigger automated shortcuts, and navigate a web search engine designed to compete with AI search startups like Perplexity. When an answer is ready, the Dynamic Island will expand downward into a clear, transparent card displaying text, lists, and images.
Since much of this processing will depend on Google’s servers, Apple is expected to focus on user privacy to address concerns. The company will likely promote its Private Cloud Compute infrastructure as a gold standard, ensuring that personal data remains temporary. In an unusual gesture toward user control, the new software is also rumoured to have strict memory limits, enabling users to set timers that automatically delete their chat histories after 30 days or a year.
The company is expected to introduce Extensions, a feature that will let users bypass Siri’s default engine entirely. This would allow them to choose rival chatbots like Claude or Gemini for their queries. Users may even be allowed to select different voices for these third-party services, creating a distinctive audio separation between Apple’s native voice and an external AI extension.
The importance of this overhaul goes beyond just introducing new software features. As the public becomes more weary of the constant integration of AI into every workplace tool, and as predictive assistants begin to feel more intrusive, Apple’s deliberate approach offers a responsible choice. By prioritising privacy and deep system integration instead of rushing a release, Apple has the chance to redefine how we interact with personal technology.
