Apple showed a new Siri with Gemini inside. Why can't you get it on your iPhone in the EU yet?
At WWDC 2026 Apple unveiled a redesigned Siri. It is conversational, sees through your camera, and Google Gemini handles the hard questions. But Apple is not launching it on the iPhone in the EU yet.
News analysis
Siri + Apple Intelligence
At WWDC 2026, Apple finally showed the Siri it should have shipped years ago. It is conversational, it sees through your camera and it can do things for you. Google Gemini handles the hard questions. The catch for the EU: Apple is not launching it on the iPhone and iPad yet because of regulation.
What is new
On Monday, June 8, 2026, at its WWDC conference, Apple unveiled a new version of its voice assistant, which it calls Siri AI. It is the biggest rewrite of Siri in years and runs on a new generation of Apple Intelligence.
The new Siri is no longer just for commands like "set an alarm". You hold a flowing conversation with it, build on previous questions and get detailed answers. Apple gave it its own separate app with a conversation history that it syncs via iCloud, so you start a chat on your phone and finish it on your Mac. Visual Intelligence is new: point the camera at an object, text or scene and Siri reacts to it. It can also act on its own. The Passwords app goes through individual websites in Safari and swaps weak or leaked passwords without you clicking anything.
What you will appreciate most
It finally keeps the thread. The old Siri had to be fed one isolated sentence at a time, and by your second question it had forgotten what you asked. The new version remembers the context, so you keep asking as you would with a person and do not have to repeat yourself each time.
The second thing is that it stepped out of voice alone. Visual Intelligence lets it see what is in front of your camera, and the agentic features let it finish a task. It turns from an assistant that looks up answers into an assistant that does something.
Conversation
Sees the camera
Acts on its own
Who it is for
The everyday iPhone user gets the most out of it, the one who today uses Siri for little more than an alarm, the weather and a timer. For them, the difference between the old and new Siri is huge, and they are exactly the group that uses the assistant daily without worrying about models and parameters.
And here is the snag. A large part of what Apple showed you will not see on the iPhone in the EU any time soon.
How to use it in practice
If you have an iPhone and you are in the EU, do not just sit there with your arms folded. Almost everything Apple showed on stage you can do today through an app you download in a minute, and without waiting for the autumn.
The steps are simple:
- Download the Gemini, ChatGPT or Claude app. They all do voice conversation with memory for context, which is exactly the core the new Siri shows off.
- Ask about a photo or scene right in the app. Snap a receipt, a plant or an error message and ask for advice, the equivalent of Visual Intelligence.
- Learn how to ask. A well-phrased question is half the result, and here the gap between "useless" and "saves me an hour a day" is bigger than the gap between models.
A real-world example
A marketer wants a morning assistant to help plan the day. Instead of waiting for the new Siri, they open the Gemini app, dictate seven tasks by voice and ask for a plan ordered by priority. Then they photograph notes from a meeting and have them turned into bullet points for an email. The whole thing fits into a coffee break, on a regular iPhone in the EU and without a single new device. They picked up the same routine in a few lessons in the AI Academy.
Recommended tools
If you want a conversational assistant right now, reach for one of these three apps. All three are available in the EU, have a voice mode and image handling, and in several ways go further than what Apple promised for the autumn.
Gemini
Best for
Anyone who wants a strong conversational model and a link to Google services.
ChatGPT
OpenAI
Best for
A universal pick for writing, brainstorming and voice mode.
Claude
Anthropic
Best for
For longer texts, document work and more careful answers.
Summary
The new Siri is finally the assistant it should have been for years: conversational, seeing and able to get things done. For EU iPhone users it is still more of an exhibit behind glass, though, because Apple is not launching it on iOS and iPadOS in the EU over the DMA dispute and has given no date. On the Mac in the EU you do get the features; otherwise it is a wait.
The point is simple. There is no sense waiting for the autumn and hoping Apple and Brussels strike a deal. Conversation, photo questions and a voice helper are available to you in the EU today through Gemini, ChatGPT or Claude. You just have to learn how to ask them.
Sources
- Apple Newsroom: Due to DMA, Siri AI delayed in EU for iOS 27 and iPadOS 27
- TechCrunch: WWDC 2026, everything announced on Siri AI, OS 27 and Apple Intelligence
- Bloomberg: Apple Delays Siri AI for iPhone Users in EU
- CNBC: WWDC 2026, Apple makes its big Siri AI reveal
- The Next Web: Apple ships its AI do-over, Siri AI and a three-tier privacy stack
Frequently asked questions
What people often ask
Will I get the new Siri AI on my iPhone in the EU?
Not yet. Apple has confirmed it will not launch Siri AI on the iPhone (iOS 27) or iPad (iPadOS 27) in the European Union. The reason is a dispute over the DMA regulation. EU users will get the new features on the Mac (macOS 27), Apple Watch and Vision Pro, but Apple has given no date for the iPhone and iPad. If you want the new Siri features on your phone right now, you either have to wait or reach for another AI app that works normally in the EU.
What can the new Siri AI actually do?
It is conversational, so you hold a flowing dialogue with it and build on previous questions. It has its own separate app with a conversation history that Apple syncs across devices via iCloud. Through Visual Intelligence it understands what you point your camera at and can react to it. It can also act on your behalf: the Passwords app goes through websites in Safari and swaps weak passwords by itself. And it pulls context across apps, reaching into Mail and Messages during a call, for example.
Why does Apple's Siri run on Google Gemini?
For the hardest questions, Apple has licensed a custom version of Google Gemini, reportedly with around 1.2 trillion parameters, for an estimated billion dollars a year. The model runs in Apple's data centres and forms the brain of Siri's cloud layer. This let Apple quickly close the gap with rivals instead of waiting years for a comparable model of its own. According to reports, the contract bars Google from training future models on Apple users' data.
Is it safe for Google to handle my questions?
Apple builds Siri on three layers. Simple things are handled directly on the device by Apple's own model. Moderately demanding ones go to Private Cloud Compute, Apple's encrypted infrastructure. Only the hardest questions travel to the Gemini model in the cloud. Apple says queries are processed without storage, nothing is retained and Google cannot train on them. For everyday privacy that is a reasonable safeguard, but you should not dictate sensitive company data into any voice assistant regardless.
When does the new Siri come out?
The developer beta has been available since the keynote on June 8, 2026. A public beta arrives in mid-July according to reports, and the final version ships in the autumn of 2026 alongside the new iPhones and iOS 27. That applies only to markets outside the EU and to the Mac. For the iPhone and iPad in the EU, Apple has given no date, because the launch is blocked by the dispute over the DMA regulation.
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