Remember the promises from 2024, when Apple showed us a "new, smart" Siri? Two years later, this Siri was still able to turn off the alarm clock and apologize for not being able to do that. Tonight, at the start of the WWDC 2026 conference, that is finally supposed to change. Irony? Siri will be given its intelligence by – Google.
Apple has given up on its own models and signed a multi-year contract to use Google's Gemini. According to Bloomberg, this costs it about a billion dollars a year. The next generation of Apple's basic models will therefore rely on Google's technology - Apple even admitted that Google offered "the most powerful foundation" for what they are building. The marketing department in Cupertino must have had a fun week.
Siri like we've never seen it before
Let's leave jokes aside, because what's promised is a really big deal. Siri in iOS 27 is said to have nothing in common with what we have today. It's becoming a chatbot in the style of ChatGPT or Cloud - only it's integrated right into the system.
What is it supposed to know? It will search the web, generate images and text, summarize, analyze uploaded files, and – here’s where it gets interesting – use your personal information to perform tasks. Imagine questions like “where’s the recipe Eric sent me?” or “find the email where Eric mentioned skating.” Siri will scour your mail, messages, photos, and calendar to answer you.
In addition, Siri will be truly saw, what's on the screen. If someone sends you an address, you can tell them to add them to your contacts. If you're looking at a photo, you can forward it with a word. And finally, it can do things between apps—move a file, edit and share a photo, write and send an email.
End of the button, hello Dynamic Island
Visually, it's a significant change. Siri is moving to a Dynamic Island. A swipe down from the middle of the screen brings up a new "Search or Ask" feature, and a pill-shaped tablet lights up when a request is processed. When Siri has an answer, the island expands into a translucent results card, and a swipe up takes you to a conversational mode reminiscent of iMessage.
The result? Notifications now appear on the left side, not the top. The new Siri interface is dark, with no light mode — with color accents like Apple used in this year's WWDC graphics.
Privacy as an asset – and an open door for Claude
Apple is expected to play the privacy card. As much processing as possible should remain on the device or in the Private Cloud Compute, and users will be able to automatically delete chats after 30 days or a year. Interestingly, Apple is opening the door to competition: in addition to ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini will also be able to interact with Siri via “Extensions”. You will be able to choose your favorite chatbot right in the settings.
And that's not all: camera, Photos, Wallet and the “Snow Leopard” approach
Visual Intelligence is moving straight into the Camera app as a new “Siri Mode” that will be able to scan nutritional values, phone numbers, and business cards. Photos gets Extend and Reframe tools for expanding and changing the perspective of images. Wallet will be able to create digital tickets from photos, and the ability to share receipts via Apple Cash has been added. Shortcuts will be able to be created with a simple natural language description.
Bloomberg describes iOS 27 as a “Snow Leopard”-style release – with a heavy emphasis on code cleanup, stability, and better battery life. In short, less glitter, more order. Mac users, however, are in for a bitter aftertaste: macOS 27 finally drops support for Intel Macs and is also slowly saying goodbye to Rosetta 2.
When and where
The WWDC 2026 keynote begins today, June 8, at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. Apple will stream the event on YouTube, the Apple TV app, and the Apple Events website. Beta versions go to developers immediately after the presentation, public betas in July, and the final release in the fall.
So the big question remains: Will Apple really catch up with the competition with Google's help, or will it just keep showing us beautiful screenshots of features that will be "available later this year"? Tonight, at least, we'll be a little smarter. Just like Siri.
