Recently, Apple announced an unexpected decision: the brand-new Siri features originally planned for iOS 18, including personal context, screen awareness, and in-app operations, will be postponed until "next year." This news has undoubtedly disappointed many eager users and sparked widespread discussions in the industry about Apple's technical capabilities and internal management.
Earlier indications suggested these Siri features might face delays. However, Apple’s official statement did not provide a clear reason for the postponement, vaguely stating that developing these features required more time than anticipated. So, what exactly led to this outcome?
According to an in-depth report by Bloomberg's renowned journalist Mark Gurman, we gain some insights into potential causes. First, Siri's weak infrastructure has become a critical factor restricting the development of new features. While working on new Siri functionalities for iOS 18, Apple faced tight deadlines and couldn't create a unified backend to handle all Siri requests promptly. Consequently, the development team had to use two separate systems to manage traditional commands and more advanced ones. The existence of this dual-system not only increased development complexity but also caused the software to run less smoothly than expected. Apple plans to launch a unified system in iOS 19, but this clearly won't provide immediate assistance to the promised features in iOS 18.
In addition, Bloomberg reported that the development of these new features has not been smooth. Apple engineers are busy fixing numerous bugs and indicated that these features won't be ready until at least next year, possibly in iOS 19.3 or later versions. This news has certainly cooled the expectations of users looking forward to the early release of these features.
More concerning is that Craig Federighi, Apple's software head, and other executives have expressed serious concerns internally about these features not functioning properly or failing to meet promotional standards. They believe that, on the eve of the delay, these features were far from ready to be showcased to consumers. Internal sources pointed out that promoting features that don't work as intended is completely unacceptable and could even constitute false advertising.
Moreover, some Apple employees have questioned the leadership of the AI team. They believe that without significant changes, Apple will continue to lag in the artificial intelligence field. These employees are urging senior management to take action and replace the leadership of the AI group to foster better team performance and innovation.
In summary, Apple faced a series of technical challenges and internal management issues while developing iOS 18's Siri features. These challenges not only led to the postponement of new features but also triggered extensive discussions in the industry about Apple's technical capabilities and leadership. In the future, Apple needs to handle the development and promotion of new technologies and features more cautiously to ensure stable, reliable, and expected product experiences for consumers.
