Author: Mary Dada
At WWDC 2024, the Californian giant and iPhone maker introduced their latest software feature, Apple Intelligence, and conveniently jumped onto the AI bandwagon. Tim Cook, the current CEO of the company, called it “indispensable.”
As you would usually expect it from Apple, the demo was polished, the music swelled at the right moments and the crowd cheered at every little thing. But outside the keynote bubble, the rollout was disappointing, and the internet soon stopped buying into the promise that the new AI integration would make our beloved iPhones “even more useful and delightful.”
The expectation of an improved Siri has largely fallen flat, as netizens complain that the digital assistant cannot even set an alarm efficiently.
One X user in particular mentioned that in the world of incredible AI chatbots, it’s honestly embarrassing for Apple how bad Siri is, and we can’t agree more.
According to this expert’s article on Medium, Apple Intelligence feels “more of a ‘toy’ or a glorified spell-grammar-sentence-phrase-mood checker for emails.” The same article, titled, “Hey Siri, I Expect More,” describes Apple’s shot at AI as “a half-baked product that was released way too early.”
Ideally, “too early” should not be in the same sentence with Apple when it comes to AI integration. This is Apple, the company that revolutionized the technology sector! That gave us the M-series chips, the iPhone, and the App Store. And yet, it is stumbling into the biggest software shift since the App Store is slower and weirder than anyone expected.
The question isn’t just what Apple announced, but why it feels so underwhelming. Is this the cost of obsessive caution?
A case of perfectionism gone wrong?
Corporate arrogance?
Or is Apple’s best-in-class hardware now being held hostage by flawed software that can’t keep up?
Let’s unpack how such a giant among technology companies in the world managed to make artificial intelligence feel… Disappointingly artificial.
What Apple Promised vs. What It Delivered
For some years now, AI has been the battlefield of Big Tech. Google launched Gemini. Microsoft embedded Copilot into Office and Windows. Meta threw generative AI into WhatsApp and Instagram. And Apple?
It waited.
Then in June 2024, Apple finally made its move with “Apple Intelligence,” a name that tried to reframe the acronym everyone else had been using for years. The promise? Smart notifications that summarize and prioritize messages, as well as on-device writing suggestions and email summaries. Apple also presented a system-wide index that helps Siri answer contextual questions like, “When does Mom’s flight land?”, “Genmoji” (custom emoji from text prompts), and integration with ChatGPT (sort of… more on that soon).
But there were problems. First, the rollout was limited. Only M1 Macs, iPhone 15 Pro models, and newer iPads would support these tools. Second, the features trickled out slowly. Despite the iPhone 16 being “built from the ground up” for Apple Intelligence, AI features didn’t ship with the device and some of these features did not arrive for months. Others like the AI-powered, more personalized Siri still haven’t materialized, despite being key to Apple’s AI pitch. Very disappointing, as the promise of the advanced, personalized AI features that allow Siri to leverage a user’s personal data and carry out actions on their behalf was what got everyone excited at WWDC 2024.
The more personalized Siri was initially targeted for April. April turned to May. Now, it’s delayed indefinitely. It turns out that the Siri demo shown at last year’s WWDC was a dramatized video of a prototype and not the live tech many thought it was. The features weren’t ready then. And judging from Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi’s keynote speech at the WWDC 2025, they’re not ready now. According to the software engineering executive, “This work needed more time to reach our high quality bar, and we look forward to sharing more about it in the coming year.” In other words, “keep waiting.”
The punting definitely won’t work in some quarters, as some customers who bought the iPhone 16 expecting full AI features have now joined class-action lawsuits over false advertising. Are they to be blamed? Afterall, the company’s Apple Intelligence announcement did show an iPhone user asking Siri about her mother’s flight and lunch reservation plans based on information from her Mail and Messages apps.
Where Apple Dropped the Ball
The Long Silence
While competitors had been deploying real-time language models into consumer tools for over a year, Apple appeared to be lying on its oars. In no time, Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot were already baked into core workflows. OpenAI redefined how people interact with computers. Apple, on the other hand, treated AI like a cautious footnote.
It also did not help that Apple seemed to be relying heavily on OpenAI under the hood. ChatGPT integration was optional, and not made to be a part of Safari, Mail, or other built-in apps. It’s almost like Apple showing up to a Formula 1 race on a Segway.
The Disappointment Called Siri
Siri is Apple’s most visible AI interface, and its most dated. Unfortunately, it remains the weakest link in Apple’s chain. Launched in 2011, Siri once felt futuristic. But while Alexa and Google Assistant have evolved, the Apple-developed digital assistant still struggles with basic tasks even though it’s been over thirteen years since its launch. Not only can it not set two timers at the same time as promised, it seemingly cannot even set one without multiple attempts.
The disappointment is palpable, as a certain conservative influencer on X expressed his recently, writing, “The fact that Siri isn’t the leading AI assistant shows how big Apple fumbled the program.”
The new Siri was supposed to fix some of the interface’s core weaknesses, with the ability to see what’s on screen, search across apps, and take contextual actions. But the overhaul is no longer to be expected this year anymore. Wait until at least 2026, Federighi basically told the crowd at June 9’s WWDC.
The Privacy Trade-Off
During his WWDC 2024 keynote, Cook said that Apple has “been using artificial intelligence and machine learning for years… It has to be built with privacy from the ground up.”
The company’s commitment to privacy is commendable. But its insistence on on-device AI restricts how powerful its tools can be. While other companies like Google and Microsoft lean on cloud supercomputers to run massive language models, Apple uses small, optimized models that run locally. This keeps user data safe but also equals smaller models, less nuance, fewer capabilities and slower adaptability. Hence, OpenAI’s models get smarter by the day while Apple’s remain sandboxed and can’t match the creativity, speed, or depth of its rivals.
Fragmented, Incomplete Rollout
Another problem with Apple Intelligence is that it is more of an exclusive club. Devices without M1 chips or the A17 Pro processor are excluded. iPhone 15? No luck. iPhone 14? Forget it. Now, the question is: Why build AI features if only a slim fraction of users can access them? How does Apple not see how that fractures the Apple ecosystem?
It also does not help that features were promised before they were ready. Apple heavily marketed AI with the iPhone 16, claiming the model was “built from the ground up” for AI…only to delay the actual functionality. This bait-and-switch approach is seen by many for what it is – a product marketing trap. While the company hasn’t commented publicly on the lawsuits crying false advertisement, its credibility has sure taken a hit.
Didn’t Pass the Vibe Check
One look at social media and Developer forums, and the verdict is clear: Apple fumbled. More than ever, this year’s Apple event generated heavy criticism and memes. What should have been a triumphant return to AI relevance instead felt like a keynote held together with duct tape in form of disclaimers and explanations. The level of dissatisfaction is easily seen across X and on developer forums on Reddit.
A Reddit user wrote, “Apple Intelligence reminds me of Battlefield 2042, where the marketing team did a better job marketing the product instead of the actual development and implementation so it doesn’t suck. Sadly both sucked.”
Could It All Be Strategic?
Come to think of it! Apple may be taking the long view, as it is trying to build AI around privacy, on-device intelligence, and tighter UX control. The current AI race is messy, afterall, with Google and Microsoft constantly issuing updates, patches, and retractions as their AIs misstep. Amidst all these, Apple might just be deliberately slow-walking its entrance to avoid all of that (and avoid the lawsuits Microsoft and Google keep facing over data misuse).
So maybe Apple isn’t late or slow but just “deliberate and thoughtful” in its deployment, as Cook told Wall Street in May 2023. Perhaps by 2026, the company’s quiet groundwork will pay off and it will actually deliver smarter, safer, more polished tools. This would be a nice turnout and maybe worth the wait. The only problem here is that the delay is giving competitors space to define user expectations before Apple catches up.
However low the expectations have gotten, there is a chance that when Siri’s upgrade finally lands, it could still surprise us. Afterall, Cook said in October 2024 that the company “is following its policy of ‘Not first, but best.’” Apple does have a history of being late, then getting it right. Remember the iPod? The iPhone? The Apple Watch? All entered established markets and changed the game.
Where Apple Is on Track
It would be unfair to pretend like Apple lost the plot completely. There are silver linings, some of which are:
Hardware-Software Optimization
This remains Apple’s secret weapon, as its hardware-software optimization is unrivaled. No other company can match the way iOS, macOS, and custom silicon interlock so smoothly.
On-Device LLMs
With its iOS 26, iPadOS 26, MacOS 26, VisionOS 26, WatchOS 26, and TVOS 26 announcements, Apple is providing access to its on-device AI large language model (LLM) to developers. This would remove the friction involved in adding AI to apps. If Apple can scale its models to be as useful as cloud-based ones, this could become a long-term strategic win.
New Developer APIs
Apple’s new APIs for developers show potential, as they could lead to a wave of useful third-party integrations eventually. While they aren’t sexy like ChatGPT, they lay the foundation for a user-first, privacy-focused AI framework.
Others
Some of Apple’s innovations like Personal Context and Semantic Indexing might not generate many headlines, but they’re meaningful. Having your device actually understand you instead of just responding to keywords is a powerful shift.
While these victories need to be acknowledged, they are very small compared to what the moment demanded.
The Real Danger for Apple
Here is the problem – while Apple slow-cooks its AI, its users are already adopting others. ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Copilot are now part of millions of iPhone users’ daily routines. And if Apple doesn’t catch up soon, its devices risk becoming mere vessels for someone else’s intelligence.
Has Apple lost the war? I’d say it hasn’t. Yet.
However, there is a pressing need to give users and investors more than just “Liquid Glass,” a “Workout Buddy” and a host of underwhelming features. The gap between Apple and other tech giants is widening with the days, as its biggest smartphone rival, Samsung, and Google-manufactured Pixels continue to lean heavily into AI. Yet, Android is not the only enemy the Silicon Valley powerhouse needs to be worried about right now. Open AI’s recent recruitment of iPhone designer Jony Ive work on a yet-to-be-known AI hardware device also spells another set of competitive troubles for Apple.
There’s danger on many fronts for Apple, as it is fast losing the narrative. Just like Google Maps eclipsed Apple Maps and iPhone users go the extra mile to download Google Maps despite their phones coming with a built-in map, generative AI tools could eclipse Siri, Apple Notes, Mail, and more. The AI era is here. And Apple needs to stop delaying its RSVP, or it may find that the party has moved on without it.
