Tim Cook on Apple Intelligence: ‘We’re making good progress….’

Apple Intelligence? We still don’t really understand the full extent of Apple’s intentions in AI, and we’re not really going to gain a better glimpse of them until some point in 2026, promised Apple CEO Tim Cook during Thursday’s financial results call.

If you follow Apple’s business news, you’ll already know Apple delivered yet another record-setting quarter, with $102 billion in revenue. The company’s forward guidance also calls for iPhone sales that are expected to beat estimates this quarter. Analysts celebrated the news with raised price targets, while shareholders looked toward dividends of 26 cents a share. 

While we have your attention

The company used its post-results analyst call to tease forthcoming news, most notably (given the greedy AI bubble currently consuming everything) its plans for AI, or Apple Intelligence. Cook told us that development of new Apple Intelligence features is going well, with introduction expected in 2026. “We’re also excited for a more personalized Siri. We’re making good progress on it, and as we’ve shared, we expect to release it next year.” 

We all believe this will include contextual understanding within Siri, which will be exciting for both users and developers. 

Developers will be fascinated to learn how many of these new tools will be made available to use in their apps via Apple Foundation Models. That’s going to be a double-whammy for the rest of us, who can look forward to innovative apps that use Apple Intelligence, at least in part, securely on the device or via Apple’s Private Cloud Compute. 

Making a difference, one AI service at a time

Cook repeatedly emphasized Apple’s fundamental focus in AI: to create and deliver tools and features that make a real difference to users. He mentioned powerful tools such as Live Translation, Visual Intelligence, and Workout Buddy. 

“…These join so many others from cleanup and photos and new image creation tools to powerful writing tools. We’re also seeing developers take advantage of our on-device foundation models to create entirely new experiences for users around the world,” he said.

These statements are being studied closely in light of a recent Bloomberg report that claimed concerns about performance of the new Siri features among people testing iOS 26.4, the version thought to be the one with which Apple intends introducing those updates. It may, however, be unfair to raise performance concerns found in such an early beta as serious evidence of problems in development. Problems are inevitable in development — finding them is why you test things in the first place.

We’ve got to work together

Cook also spoke with CNBC, where he confirmed that Apple does intend to “integrate with more” AI tools over time. While he didn’t announce anything, we know the company has been speaking with AI services such as Google, Perplexity, and Anthropic. It seems likely those discussions will relate to cost for access to its platforms along with commitments on the part of third-party vendors to respect Apple’s very likely tough set of SLAs. I suspect that at least some of the infrastructure spending we’re seeing at some smaller AI companies may reflect their need to scale to meet the AI demands of billions of smartphone users. Given that water, energy, and hardware are all limited, scaling out to meet such demands will probably take a while. 

Apple Intelligence at the edge

That is, of course where Apple’s on-device AI service delivery model makes a lot of sense. And as the power of its processors improves, it will deliver even greater sense tomorrow. 

“As we continue to expand our investment in AI, we’re bringing intelligence to more of what people already love about our products and services, making every experience even more personal, capable, and effortless. At the heart of it all is Apple silicon,” said Cook. “These incredibly advanced chips make Apple products the very best place to experience the power of AI.”

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