If you own an iPhone in Paris, Berlin, or Madrid, the headline feature of iOS 27 still isn’t on it. And according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, you shouldn’t expect it soon. Answering a reader question in his Sunday Power On newsletter (via MacRumors and heise online), Gurman called a five-month delay the “absolute best-case scenario” for Siri AI reaching EU iPhones and iPads, and said the wait could be considerably longer.
The precedent is the good outcome
The five-month figure comes from the last time this happened. Apple Intelligence launched in October 2024, and EU iPhone and iPad owners didn’t get it until iOS 18.4 at the end of March 2025.
iOS 27 shipped on September 14 with Siri AI in beta. Run the same five-month gap from that date and Europe lands somewhere around mid-February 2027. That’s the optimistic read. Last time, Apple at least announced its EU plan and a target month ahead of time. This time there’s no date at all.
Where it works and where it doesn’t
The block is narrower than “Siri AI isn’t in Europe.” EU users on Mac and Apple Vision Pro already have it. The restriction covers iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, plus every feature that depends on Siri AI on those devices.
That split follows the Digital Markets Act. The iPhone and iPad are the products the EU treats as gatekeeper platforms, which means Apple would have to give rival assistants deeper access to them. Apple says it can’t ship Siri AI in the EU under those terms without risking privacy and security.
Both sides say it’s the other’s call
This fight has been public since June. Apple asked the European Commission for an 18-month exemption and proposed a go-between layer that would let other assistants hook in gradually. The Commission said no, and told Reuters the DMA doesn’t stop Apple from launching. In its view, holding Siri AI back is Apple’s own decision.
Gurman’s read is that Apple is withholding the feature on purpose, betting that frustrated European customers will push Brussels to soften its approach. heise reports that talks between the two sides haven’t moved.
Why it matters
Siri AI isn’t a side feature. It’s the core of Apple’s pitch for iOS 27, and Gurman says it’s also at the heart of the smart home hub, HomePod mini, and Apple TV he expects Apple to show on October 13. Apple hasn’t said how those products will work for European buyers, and that’s a question it’ll have to answer soon.
There’s a real argument on Apple’s side. Opening an assistant that sees your messages, calendar, and screen to outside companies is a privacy problem, not just a business one. But the longer this drags on, the harder it gets to frame it as purely about protecting users. For now, EU iPhone owners are paying full price for a phone whose biggest new feature is greyed out, and neither side is offering a date.
Reporting reference: MacRumors ↗