Apple withholds new AI Siri in EU over DMA dispute

On the surface this is a fight about device access. Apple says the DMA's interoperability mandate requires it to give third-party assistants the same deep capabilities as Siri AI, including reading and sending messages, making purchases, accessing files, and acting across apps ^[1][4]. Apple's engineered answer was the "Trusted System Agent," described as an intermediary that would let virtual assistants safely access the same features and capabilities as Siri AI for EU devices ^[1]. But the Commission rejected every proposal Apple put forward, along with its exemption request ^[1][2]. The most revealing detail surfaced in technical community discussion: the genuine sticking point was Apple's proposed 18-month phased rollout, which would have let Siri AI launch first and granted third-party assistants parity only later ^[1][2]. That reframes the dispute. A head start is not a security control; it is a competitive advantage. Apple asked for time to ship its own assistant before rivals could match it, and the Commission treated that as an attempt to delay compliance rather than achieve it.

Both sides tell incompatible stories and there is no arbiter in between. Apple frames the outcome as forced upon it, stating that due to the DMA it will not be able to ship Siri AI in the EU with iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, and warning of clear dangers to EU users that regulators failed to acknowledge ^[1]. Craig Federighi cast it as disappointment rather than defiance. The Commission's Thomas Regnier flipped the narrative entirely, insisting the decision is Apple's and Apple's only and that exemption from interoperability obligations is simply not an option ^[2]. Social reception split along the same fault line. The reaction was a polarized blame war: some defended Apple's walled-garden security model while others, including Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, argued Apple "simply hates competition" and is withholding features to pressure EU users, comparing forced interoperability to the USB-C mandate. On Reddit the divide ran subreddit by subreddit, with r/europe characterizing the move as "malicious compliance" and a victim narrative, while r/apple stayed sharply split over whether "security" was a genuine concern or a pretext to block rivals.

The DMA does not apply evenly. It targets only a handful of designated gatekeepers, which is why competitors like Samsung ship AI features in the EU unimpeded while Apple faces interoperability obligations Siri AI cannot currently satisfy. That asymmetry is central to the competitive stakes: the same rules meant to open the assistant layer fall hardest on the platform owner that controls it. The withholding also fragments Apple's own ecosystem. EU users get Siri AI on macOS 27 and visionOS 27 but not on iPhone, iPad, or watchOS, the last because it needs a paired iPhone ^[3][4]. On the revenue side, one analyst on financial television, Maxim Group's Tom Forte, estimated Europe sits north of 20% of Apple sales and China north of 15%, implying up to roughly 40% of revenue could be ineligible for Siri AI, though he argued being slow to consumer AI is not hugely detrimental given Apple's "best, not first" pattern. That figure is analyst commentary, not a confirmed Apple disclosure, and should be read as a rough framing of exposure rather than a hard number.

The lasting significance is not the missing features but what the standoff establishes. This is the second time Apple Intelligence has been delayed in the EU over the DMA, and the first with no timeline at all, meaning there is currently no date for Siri AI's availability in the region ^[1][3]. The earlier pattern was different: Apple withheld Apple Intelligence from Europe in late 2024, then brought initial features via iOS 18.4 in 2025 after negotiations ^[3], and used a 2025 newsroom post to argue the DMA was degrading the EU user experience ^[5]. This round broke that cycle of eventual compromise. By rejecting the head start and the exemption, the Commission signaled that the AI-assistant layer is governed terrain, and that a gatekeeper cannot ship its own assistant first and open the door to rivals later. The second-order effects ripple outward: it sets a template for how every AI assistant is regulated under the DMA, pressures parallel players such as Google and Gemini, and leaves EU users in an indefinite gap while Apple and Brussels each wait for the other to move.