Apple reportedly will delay many of iOS 19’s bigger features until spring 2026. They will arrive eventually as part of iOS 19.4 instead of becoming available when the iPhone’s new operating system first drops in September 2025.
Apparently, the delay will affect “a larger-than-usual number of features.”
Apple might delay several major iOS 19 features
Such a move is certainly not unprecedented. Apple held back several major features from iOS 18’s initial public release in September. Notably, the company launched Apple Intelligence, one of the operating system’s marquee features, a month later with iOS 18.1.
And, despite that delay, not all of Apple’s AI features showcased at WWDC24 are available to users yet. Apple plans to release iOS 18.2 with Image Playground, Visual Intelligence and ChatGPT integration in early December. Then, with iOS 18.4 in spring 2025, the company will roll out a more powerful Siri that can control apps.
In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman says Apple will follow a similar strategy with the bigger features in iOS 19. His sources say Apple will delay a “larger-than-usual number of features” to iOS 19.4’s release in spring 2026.
iOS 19’s LLM-powered Siri, designed to provide a more conversational experience, seemingly has been delayed until spring 2026 as well.
Delayed iOS features might become more common in the future
The delayed iOS 18 features led Apple to launch the iPhone 16 series without access to many key features. It also caused the company to promote and hype features, like Visual Intelligence, despite not being ready by launch day. It seems this delayed rollout of major new features might become the norm, with iOS 19 reportedly following a similar trajectory.
With iOS 19 being almost a year away from release, there’s always a possibility that Apple could address the delays and change the release timeline of major new features.
