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Apple Reportedly Planning AI-Enhanced Siri With Search Tool in 2026

Google's Gemini model might be the engine behind an enhanced Siri next year.

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Headshot of Macy Meyer
Macy Meyer Writer II
Macy is a writer on the AI Team. She covers how AI is changing daily life and how to make the most of it. This includes writing about consumer AI products and their real-world impact, from breakthrough tools reshaping daily life to the intimate ways people interact with AI technology day-to-day. Macy is a North Carolina native who graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a BA in English and a second BA in Journalism. You can reach her at mmeyer@cnet.com.
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  • Macy has been working for CNET for coming on 2 years. Prior to CNET, Macy received a North Carolina College Media Association award in sports writing.
Macy Meyer
2 min read
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Apple has delayed its long-awaited Siri update until 2026. 

 Getty Images/Viva Tung/CNET

Apple is preparing to unveil its iPhone 17 lineup next week but a major software update is also rumored to be on the horizon. The company is reportedly planning an AI-powered upgrade to Siri in iOS 26.4, arriving as early as March 2026.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple is working on a new Siri feature called World Knowledge Answers, an AI-driven search tool designed to generate detailed responses that draw from web data, images, video and local information. Bloomberg wrote that Apple may be working with Google to test a custom version of its Gemini model to power parts of the search tool. Apple's own models will still handle personal data and device context, while Gemini may support Siri's new planning and summarizing functions.

Apple and Google did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment. 

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While Siri will be the first app to gain the upgrade, Apple is reportedly planning to extend the search tool to Safari and Spotlight in the future. The release is positioned to roll out in the spring, months after next week's iPhone 17 hardware launch, underscoring Apple's effort to separate its next big AI move from its annual device release.

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By adding AI-driven search to Siri, Apple would be stepping into the same space as fast-growing rivals like OpenAI and Perplexity. The move signals Apple's intent to catch up in the generative AI race and position Siri as a more direct competitor to these existing services.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET's parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against ChatGPT maker OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Apple's deeper integration with Google AI also comes as a court decision upheld much of the two tech giants' lucrative $20 billion arrangement, which allows Google to pay Apple billions of dollars annually to remain the default search engine in Safari. That ruling gives Apple financial breathing room as it experiments with new ways to handle web queries even as it tests its own AI alternatives.

Read also: Smartphone Buyers Care Even Less About AI Than They Did Last Year, CNET Survey Finds