Next Year’s iOS 19 Feature List May Be More Spread Out
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Each year, Apple unveils the major software updates for all its platforms during its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June. This gives developers a head start to work on updating their apps to take advantage of all the new features that will arrive when those big releases land in the fall. However, it also whets our appetites for what’s coming.
However, while each WWDC keynote boasts a plethora of new features for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and beyond, it’s become more common over the past few years for these presentations to be a roadmap of what will unfold over the following year, rather than a highlight of everything landing in September.
This isn’t necessarily a new trend; Apple has delayed features into its “point-one” releases since before it even called its iPhone Software “iOS.” However, in those days, Apple was considerably more circumspect about what it announced in advance, so these became pleasant surprises rather than unmet expectations.
However, Apple’s strategy began to shift in 2016 when it unveiled the iPhone 7 Plus with the new Portrait Mode that wouldn’t arrive until iOS 10.1. By 2017, it had kicked into full gear as Apple announced new features like AirPlay 2 and Messages in iCloud at WWDC in June that didn’t show up until iOS 11.4 was released at the end of May 2018 — a week before Apple showed off iOS 12.
This “roadmap” strategy has been the norm ever since, and it’s especially apparent this year with Apple Intelligence, which arrived in iOS 18.1 in October and isn’t expected to be up to full speed until iOS 18.4 lands sometime next April.
Now, it looks like iOS 19 could be even more spread out. In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says he’s been informed by his sources that a “larger-than-usual” number of features slated for iOS 19 won’t be coming until iOS 19.4 in the spring of 2026.
Apple is introducing more of its technology in a staggered way, rather than in one large annual refresh. The company is planning a big upgrade this spring with the release of iOS 18.4, but some new capabilities once expected for later in the year are already getting pushed back. I’m told that a larger-than-usual number of features scheduled for iOS 19 (beyond the new Siri) are already postponed until spring 2026 (when iOS 19.4 debuts).Mark Gurman
This includes the new and improved “LLM Siri” that Gurman reported on last week. To be fair, he already said that was slated for 2026, but it looks like it won’t be the only thing we’ll be waiting for.
We expect Apple to run its usual dog-and-pony show at WWDC like it did this year to get everyone excited about a whole new array of Apple Intelligence features, even though few of them will show up in iOS 19.0 in September. The only question is whether Apple will be more forthcoming about its planned release schedule this time around to better manage people’s expectations.
As things stand today, we’re still waiting for the improvements Apple has already promised for Siri: personal context and on-screen awareness to make Apple’s virtual assistant function more like a real assistant. Gurman and other sources suggest those will arrive in iOS 18.4, but Apple hasn’t supplied any official word on the matter.
Apple could be shooting itself in the foot with its lack of transparency about the specifics of its roadmap. The Apple Intelligence features and new Siri animation in iOS 18.1 have led many folks to mistakenly believe that the Siri changes are already here. You don’t have to look far through discussion forums and social media posts to find people pillorying Apple for what some believe is a downright fail on Apple’s part for an improvement that hasn’t even arrived yet.
Next year’s WWDC will undoubtedly have Apple showing off its even more improved and conversational “LLM Siri” (an internal name that’s unlikely to be used on stage), but if it’s truly not rolling it out for another year, it will need to be careful to avoid confusing customers into mistaking the old Siri for the new one.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
