Apple delays Siri AI in EU after clash with regulators

Apple has put its next Siri AI rollout on hold for iPhone and iPad users in the European Union, turning a product launch into the latest test of how far Brussels can push Big Tech on interoperability. The company said Siri AI will be available to EU users on macOS 27 and visionOS 27, but not on iOS 27 or iPadOS 27 at launch.

The split rollout followed Apple’s clash with European regulators over how the assistant would handle data and whether rivals should be able to tap into it on equal terms. Apple said it had proposed an EU-specific intermediary layer that would let competing assistants access Siri AI-related data securely, but the European Commission rejected the idea. The company also sought an 18-month exemption from its obligations, and said it would not ship the feature on iPhone or iPad in Europe until it could do so safely.

Greg Joswiak, Apple’s marketing chief, cast the stakes in stark terms, calling the situation “a very risky experiment” involving many millions of users. Apple has argued that AI assistants could gain unprecedented access to personal information on a device, including essentially all communications, if they were forced into deeper sharing before the company believed the system was secure enough.

Brussels pushed back just as sharply. Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said the decision not to roll out Siri AI in Europe was “Apple's and Apple's only,” and said the Digital Markets Act does not stop Apple from launching new products in the bloc. The dispute now goes beyond Siri itself. It reaches into a broader question central to the DMA: whether a gatekeeper must design new AI systems so rival services can interoperate with them on fair terms.

The Commission has already spent months pressing Apple on interoperability. It opened two specification proceedings on September 19, 2024, and on March 19, 2025 adopted decisions clarifying how Apple must comply with Article 6(7) of the DMA. That rule requires gatekeepers to provide developers and businesses with free and effective interoperability with hardware and software features controlled by iOS and iPadOS, with the Commission saying the aim is deeper and more seamless integration of third-party products into Apple’s ecosystem.

For Europe’s hundreds of millions of Apple users, the result could be a different AI experience depending on the device in hand. Mac and Vision Pro users in the bloc will get Siri AI first, while iPhone and iPad users wait as Cupertino and Brussels keep negotiating over privacy, security and the limits of platform power.