iPhone and iPad users in the European Union shouldn’t expect Apple’s upgraded Siri AI anytime soon.
A delay comparable to the roughly five months Europeans waited for the original Apple Intelligence rollout would be the “absolute best-case scenario,” according to a new report, with the wait for Siri AI potentially stretching considerably longer.
Siri AI launched with iOS 27 in September but remains unavailable on iPhone and iPad in the EU. Mac users in the region can already access it, leaving Apple’s mobile devices caught in an ongoing dispute over how much access competing AI assistants should receive to iOS and iPadOS.
Apple and the EU remain far apart
The disagreement centers on the Digital Markets Act, which requires Apple to give third-party services access to the same operating-system features available to its own services.
That becomes particularly complicated with Siri AI because the assistant can work across apps and access information stored elsewhere on an iPhone.
Apple argues that providing competing assistants with comparable system access could expose sensitive user data and create privacy and security risks.
The European Commission rejects the idea that those requirements prevent Siri AI from launching.
“Nothing in the DMA prohibits Apple from introducing new products and services in the EU,” the Commission says in its guidance on the dispute, adding that Apple can offer Siri AI as long as competing services receive equivalent access to relevant features with user consent.
Apple and EU regulators have continued discussing possible solutions, but neither side has announced an agreement or a timetable for bringing Siri AI to European iPhones and iPads.
Five months could be the optimistic outcome
The previous Apple Intelligence rollout provides some idea of how long these disputes can take. Apple Intelligence initially launched in the U.S. in October 2024 before reaching the EU the following spring after months of negotiations over the DMA.
Siri AI raises a more difficult interoperability question because the assistant reaches so deeply into the operating system and personal information stored across apps.
Apple has publicly blamed the delay on the DMA and says regulators rejected proposals intended to preserve its privacy and security protections.
The Commission maintains that Apple chose to withhold Siri AI and says its rules don’t require the company to lower those protections.
That leaves EU customers in the middle of a regulatory standoff with no launch date to plan around.
Five months would merely repeat the delay Europeans experienced with Apple Intelligence. This time, even that may prove optimistic.
