Apple unveiled a massive pile of AI features for all of its devices, from iPhones to Macs, at the WWDC 2026 event.
But not a single one of the updates shown at the event will be seen on iPhones or iPads sold in the European Union.
Apple blames the European Union and the fact that both the iPhone and iPad are defined as so-called core platform services under the EU's Digital Markets Act legislation.
The term means that they have such a significant market position in their own product category that they are subject to stricter rules to prevent restrictions on competition than smaller players are (Android and Windows are also classified as operating systems in a similar way).
Put simply, it means that no new significant functionalities may be added to these operating systems unless, at the same time, it is made possible for other companies to offer equivalent, competing solutions on the same platform.
The EU takes the view that Apple should offer AI assistants competing with Siri the same kind of access to the data stored on users' phones as Siri has. In addition, other AI assistants comparable to Siri should also be able to control other apps on the device - just as Siri can.
Apple has not agreed to this, as in the company's view it would erode the privacy of the iPhone and iPad if AI assistants other than Apple's own were allowed to access user data (even if the user explicitly wanted that) or to control apps installed on the device (which Siri can control).
The company says it has offered as an alternative a kind of intermediary layer (Trusted System Agent), which competing AI assistants could access and through which they could be granted access to the necessary data and apps. According to Apple, however, the EU has not agreed to this, but instead demands that competitors be given exactly the same access as Apple allows its own Siri.
The end result of the situation is that Apple Intelligence and Siri AI will now not arrive at all for iPhone and iPad users in the EU.
There is currently no timetable for resolving the stalemate, so if neither party makes concessions, the new AI features for the iPhone and iPad will not arrive in Europe at all.
On Apple's other platforms, such as macOS, the new AI solutions will arrive in Europe as well, because their market share in their respective product categories is so small that they are not counted as core platform services.
Apple blames the European Union and the fact that both the iPhone and iPad are defined as so-called core platform services under the EU's Digital Markets Act legislation.
The term means that they have such a significant market position in their own product category that they are subject to stricter rules to prevent restrictions on competition than smaller players are (Android and Windows are also classified as operating systems in a similar way).
Put simply, it means that no new significant functionalities may be added to these operating systems unless, at the same time, it is made possible for other companies to offer equivalent, competing solutions on the same platform.
The EU takes the view that Apple should offer AI assistants competing with Siri the same kind of access to the data stored on users' phones as Siri has. In addition, other AI assistants comparable to Siri should also be able to control other apps on the device - just as Siri can.
Apple has not agreed to this, as in the company's view it would erode the privacy of the iPhone and iPad if AI assistants other than Apple's own were allowed to access user data (even if the user explicitly wanted that) or to control apps installed on the device (which Siri can control).
The company says it has offered as an alternative a kind of intermediary layer (Trusted System Agent), which competing AI assistants could access and through which they could be granted access to the necessary data and apps. According to Apple, however, the EU has not agreed to this, but instead demands that competitors be given exactly the same access as Apple allows its own Siri.
The end result of the situation is that Apple Intelligence and Siri AI will now not arrive at all for iPhone and iPad users in the EU.
There is currently no timetable for resolving the stalemate, so if neither party makes concessions, the new AI features for the iPhone and iPad will not arrive in Europe at all.
On Apple's other platforms, such as macOS, the new AI solutions will arrive in Europe as well, because their market share in their respective product categories is so small that they are not counted as core platform services.
