Apple is preparing one of its most significant Siri upgrades since the assistant’s debut, positioning it at the center of its future AI and smart-home strategy. The company is working on a redesigned, more intelligent Siri that not only understands context better but also has a new visual personality, part of an initiative to make interactions feel more lifelike and engaging.
The next-generation Siri will run on a large language model codenamed Linwood, designed in-house to deliver faster, more natural responses. This upgrade will allow Siri to recall past conversations, proactively suggest actions, and participate in multi-person discussions. Apple is also testing a competing system called Glenwood, which could integrate outside AI models like Anthropic’s Claude, giving the assistant more versatility and potentially accelerating development.
One of the most notable changes will be Siri’s visual identity. Apple is experimenting with an animated interface under the project name Bubbles. Early prototypes include a smiling Finder-style icon, playful Memoji-inspired designs, and other expressive forms to give Siri a friendlier, more relatable presence. The assistant will be capable of subtle visual cues that align with its responses, making interactions feel less mechanical and more conversational.
This visual and functional overhaul will debut first on iPhones and iPads as early as next year, and will be central to Apple’s upcoming AI-powered devices, including the tabletop robot planned for 2027 and a smart-home display arriving sooner. On these devices, Siri will serve as the primary way to control apps, access widgets, and manage home automation through a new operating system called Charismatic. With features like facial recognition, Siri will adapt the interface and content to individual users, further personalizing the experience.
Internally, Apple executives view Siri’s transformation as a critical part of the company’s AI resurgence after years of lagging behind competitors in generative AI. By pairing advanced language models with a distinct personality and seamless integration across devices, Apple aims to make Siri the most natural and capable assistant in the market, setting the stage for its next wave of hardware innovation.
(via Bloomberg)
