What Happened?
Apple is killing the Siri we know. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the company plans to replace its voice assistant with an AI chatbot that works more like ChatGPT—letting users type or talk in back-and-forth conversations.
The new assistant runs on a custom Google Gemini AI model, part of a multiyear partnership announced in 2025. Apple internally calls this upgrade "LLM Siri." It's the primary new feature in iOS 27, with other updates focused on stability.
The timeline: reveal at WWDC in June, launch in September. The codename is Campos. Apple is also developing an AI-powered search tool called "World Knowledge Answers" for Siri, Safari, and Spotlight—positioning it against OpenAI's SearchGPT and Perplexity.
Why Does This Change Everything for Your Business?
I've been watching Apple fumble AI for three years now. Siri launched in 2011 and felt like science fiction. Then Google and Amazon caught up. Then ChatGPT showed up and made Siri look like a calculator with a microphone.
Here's what caught my attention: Apple hired Google's AI chief, John Giannandrea, back in 2018. Seven years later, they're still scrambling to ship a competitive assistant. That tells you how hard this problem is—and how serious Apple is about fixing it now.
The old reality: Siri handled commands. "Set a timer." "Call Mom." Transactional, rigid, limited.
The new reality: Siri becomes a conversational AI that understands context, handles follow-ups, and—if the reports hold—can actually reason about your questions.
For business owners, this matters because 2 billion active Apple devices are about to get an AI upgrade. That's not a niche product launch. That's a platform shift.
Three things I'm watching closely. First, voice search behavior will change. When Siri can actually answer complex questions, people will ask more complex questions. If your business depends on local search or "near me" queries, the game is shifting. Your AI strategy needs to account for conversational discovery.
Second, customer expectations are about to spike. Every iPhone user will soon carry a ChatGPT-quality assistant in their pocket. They'll expect your chatbot, your customer service, your support to match that standard. The bar just got higher for everyone.
Third, the cost question is unresolved. Running conversational AI at Apple's scale is expensive. Will they keep it free? Add a subscription tier? Bloomberg says Apple is weighing several paths. If it goes paid, that changes adoption curves. If it stays free, Apple eats the compute costs—and your competitors get the same capabilities.
One more thing worth noting: current Apple Intelligence features are restricted to iPhone 16 models, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Memory requirements are real. If your customers skew toward older devices, the rollout will be uneven. Plan for a fragmented user base through at least 2026.
What Should You Do Right Now?
It's too early to rebuild your entire mobile strategy. But it's not too early to prepare. Here's what makes sense:
- **Audit your voice search presence.** How does your business show up when someone asks Siri a question? Test it now. The conversational Siri will pull from different sources—make sure your content is structured for AI extraction.
- **Benchmark your customer service against ChatGPT.** Seriously. Have someone on your team ask ChatGPT the same questions your customers ask. That's the new baseline. If your support experience is worse, you have six months to close the gap.
- **Watch WWDC in June.** Apple will reveal the details. Pay attention to what capabilities they announce for developers. If Siri opens up new APIs or integrations, early movers win.
- **Don't panic about subscriptions yet.** If Apple adds a paid tier, it probably won't gate basic functionality. Wait for pricing details before making budget decisions.
If you're thinking about broader AI integration for your business, now is actually a good time to map out your approach. The tools are maturing, and Apple's move validates the direction. Check out our AI operations guide for practical frameworks that work regardless of which assistant wins.
Key Takeaways
- Apple is replacing Siri with a ChatGPT-style chatbot powered by a custom Google Gemini model—launching September 2026.
- The update affects 2 billion+ active Apple devices, making this a platform shift, not a feature update.
- Customer expectations for AI interactions will rise sharply once iPhone users carry ChatGPT-quality assistants daily.
- Voice search optimization becomes critical—conversational AI means more complex queries and different discovery patterns.
- Action now: audit your voice search presence, benchmark your customer service against ChatGPT, and watch WWDC in June for developer details.
