WWDC 2026: Apple gives Siri an AI makeover, but China must wait

Apple has finally made its big move in the artificial intelligence (AI) tech race, unveiling a long-awaited reinvention of its Siri voice assistant. Introduced on Monday at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in Cupertino, California, the new Siri AI abandons stiff, preprogrammed responses in favour of fluid conversations powered by Google’s Gemini model. The upgrade transforms Siri into an integrated companion capable of managing tasks across apps and maintaining continuous chat histories. The tech showcase was the platform for Apple CEO Tim Cook’s final keynote address before he hands the reins to John Ternus in September. “Apple wants AI to become part of the operating system, not a separate destination only available through an app. Siri is central to that ambition,” said Francisco Jeronimo, vice-president of client devices at International Data Corporation, a market intelligence firm. Ternus would “inherit a company with one of the strongest hardware ecosystems in the world, but the next chapter will be defined by how intelligently that hardware works for users”, Jeronimo said. However, even as Apple attempts to rewrite its AI strategy, the latest software updates remain walled off from the world’s largest smartphone market: mainland China. Here is what you need to know about Apple’s move and its implications for the region. Is Siri AI and Apple Intelligence finally coming to China? Not yet. Apple said Siri AI and the other new Apple Intelligence features would not be available in China as the company continues to work through regulatory requirements. However, Hong Kong, where Gemini and some existing Apple Intelligence features are already supported, could get an earlier taste of the new AI capabilities than mainland China when iOS 27 becomes available as a beta in English later this year. The delay in mainland China is not a surprise. Two years into the launch of Apple Intelligence, the iPhone maker is yet to officially roll out its AI capabilities in mainland China, where regulatory approval remains in limbo. However, an accidental release in March, which was pulled just hours later, added to the regulatory risks the company faced in the market, analysts said. While Apple collaborates with Google and OpenAI to deliver some AI capabilities for Apple Intelligence globally, China’s strict rules on foreign AI tools have led the company to partner with local firms like Baidu and Alibaba Group Holding to back the service in China. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. What’s new in iOS 27? Siri AI, coming in English later this year, is at the centre of Apple’s iOS 27 experience. Apart from the new stand-alone app, Siri AI will also be integrated into the Dynamic Island, with users able to swipe down to activate a conversation with the AI assistant. It will also become accessible systemwide to read the user’s screen and act across apps. Apple has stressed its “privacy at every step”, with all queries processed either on device or on Apple’s Private Cloud Compute. Apple also added a Siri mode in Camera, which can analyse a picture of an object and do things like calculating the calories in a meal or splitting a bill with friends. Other new Apple Intelligence features can be found in photo editing, including changing the composition of a photo with Spatial Reframing, generating more space around the original image with Extend, and improved object erasing with an upgraded Clean Up. The new updates were made available to developers on Monday, with a public beta coming next month and an official launch this autumn. How does Apple’s AI stack up against its Chinese peers? Chinese rivals such as Huawei Technologies, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo have been adding a slew of AI-powered functions to their devices to stay competitive. The intelligent photo editing tools, for instance, are already available for major domestic players. Another domestic handset maker, ZTE, took the more radical approach of building an agentic AI smartphone. In an operating-system-level collaboration between ZTE and ByteDance, the device leverages the TikTok owner’s Doubao large language model to complete tasks via voice commands. However, the operating-system-level Doubao AI phones sparked security concerns, forcing it to disable its interactions with financial apps, including banking and payment services. “What Apple lacks in cutting-edge AI development, it more than compensates for through seamless integration across its products and services,” Emarketer senior analyst Gadjo Sevilla wrote in a recent note ahead of the WWDC. “An upgraded, agentic version of Siri … could become as ubiquitous as features like AirDrop.” The new Siri – Apple’s or Google’s? Earlier this year, Apple announced its partnership with Google to use Gemini models and cloud technology to power the next-generation, “more personalised” Siri. However, what sets Apple’s Siri AI apart from a chatbot running on Google’s Gemini is the systemwide access to the phone’s ecosystem across various apps. Apart from its close partnership with Gemini, Apple also allows iOS 27 to set a third-party AI such as Anthropic’s Claude as the default assistant. “The key takeaway from WWDC26 will not be the short-term share-price reaction after the event. It will be whether Apple, using the same Gemini, can deliver better AI applications, agentic workflows and on-device and cloud hybrid experiences than Google,” said Kuo Ming-chi, an analyst at TF International Securities (HK). Apple’s shares slid 1.89 per cent to close at US$301.54 on Monday after the WWDC.

WWDC 2026: Apple gives Siri an AI makeover, but China must wait

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}For most of the world, a public beta of Siri AI will be coming out later this year for devices set to English

For most of the world, a public beta of Siri AI will be coming out later this year for devices set to English