Apple faces Siri 2.0 glitches and may delay launch - Bloomberg

Apple has encountered technical difficulties in the final stage of testing the new Siri 2.0 voice assistant and may revise the release schedule, Bloomberg reported citing sources. As a result, the artificial intelligence features in Siri may not appear in March, but only in May or September iPhone firmware updates. The postponement may put pressure on Apple's quotes - Wall Street considers the upcoming launch of Siri 2.0 a key driver of the company's stock growth.

Apple had planned to include Siri 2.0 voice assistant features in the March update of iOS 26.4 for iPhone, but now the deadline may be pushed back to Ma or even September, Bloomberg sources claim. According to them, testing in recent weeks has revealed bugs: the novelty takes a long time to process requests and sometimes interrupts users when they speak quickly. They also noticed problems with the accuracy of answers and a bug that causes Siri to switch to ChatGPT instead of using Apple's own technology.

Apple originally announced the launch of a "smart" Siri 2.0 with artificial intelligence features by early 2025. The iPhone maker then promised to teach the assistant to use personal data for more accurate answers. The updated Siri was supposed to be able to control apps and analyze screen content, but the release date was repeatedly pushed back. The internal deadline was most recently thought to be March 2026, the article said.

Wall Street is directly linking Apple's stock prospects to the introduction of new AI features in the iPhone, which will help the company maintain smartphone sales even as prices rise and support its revenue from mobile services. This week, analyst firm Bernstein raised its target price on the tech giant's shares, citing the debut of Siri 2.0 as the main driver of its stock price. Bernstein wrote that the company is "bound to show something" after two years of lagging behind competitors.

The stock market took the risks of another postponement of the release of Siri 2.0 calmly: in over-the-counter trading in the U.S. on February 12, shares of the iPhone maker in the plus by 0.1%.

According to FactSet, Wall Street's sentiment toward Apple has become slightly more optimistic over the past month, with the number of buy recommendations (Buy and Overweight) rising from 31 to 33, while the skeptic camp (17 Hold ratings and two Sell ratings) remained unchanged. The consensus holds at "above market" (Overweight). The securities' average target price of $297.49 implies a potential upside of 8% to the close on February 11.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor