Apple’s big AI Siri promise has officially become more than just an awkward product delay. Apple has agreed to a proposed US$250 million settlement over a class action lawsuit in California, after claims that the company misled some iPhone buyers about when its upgraded Siri would actually arrive.
The case focuses on Apple’s much-hyped Apple Intelligence rollout, especially the more personal, context-aware Siri first shown at WWDC 2024. That version of Siri was supposed to understand what was happening on your device and help perform actions inside apps. Basically, the kind of assistant Apple users have wanted for years — not just another voice command tool that sets timers and opens apps.
But according to Engadget, that new Siri still has not shipped nearly two years after it was first shown.
Who is covered by the settlement?
If the settlement gets approved by a judge, it will cover US buyers of the iPhone 16 lineup and iPhone 15 Pro. The idea is to provide financial relief to customers who bought those phones expecting the new Siri experience as part of Apple Intelligence.
Important note for Malaysia: this does not mean Malaysian iPhone owners are getting a payout. The class action is US-focused. But the issue still matters here because Malaysians also buy into the same marketing cycle — new iPhone, new AI features, big promises, premium pricing.
When you are paying flagship money in Malaysia, especially with iPhones regularly sitting in the RM4,000 to RM7,000+ range depending on model and storage, delayed software features are not just a small footnote. A lot of buyers upgrade because of what Apple says the phone will be able to do, not only what it can do on day one.
Apple Intelligence arrived in pieces, but Siri lagged behind
Apple did roll out parts of Apple Intelligence across 2024 and 2025, including writing tools, image generation features and ChatGPT integration. Those features helped Apple say the AI era had arrived on iPhone.
The problem is that the most important part — the smarter Siri — did not arrive with them.
Apple only publicly confirmed the delay in March 2025, more than five months after the iPhone 16 launch. That timing is why the lawsuit landed badly. The iPhone 16 was marketed as an Apple Intelligence-ready device, but one of the headline features shown during the hype cycle was missing for a long time.
After confirming the delay, Apple also removed ads that had promoted the new Siri before the iPhone launch. That is never a good look, bro. If the feature is strong enough to sell the phone, people are going to notice when it quietly disappears from the campaign.
Why SEA users should care
For Malaysian and SEA tech buyers, this is a reminder to be more sceptical about AI branding. Every major phone brand is pushing AI hard now — Apple, Samsung, Google, OPPO, Xiaomi, HONOR, all of them. But not every AI feature launches everywhere, not every language gets full support, and not every demo becomes a real daily-use tool quickly.
That matters a lot in our region. We use mixed English, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil, Bahasa Indonesia, Tagalog and local slang every day. If an AI assistant cannot handle real SEA usage patterns, it may look nice in a keynote but feel mid in real life.
Apple reportedly plans to finally launch the new Siri this year, helped by a partnership with Google that allows Apple to use Gemini models. The upgraded Siri and other AI features are expected to be part of iOS 27.
Until then, the lesson is simple: buy the phone for what it does now, not only for what the keynote says is coming later.
Source: Engadget