India, Nov. 18 -- A major shift is coming to the iPhone, but only for users in Japan, at least for now. Apple is preparing to let people replace Siri with any third-party voice assistant on the iPhone, thanks to a new feature hidden inside the latest iOS 26.2 developer beta.

The change was first spotted in beta 3 of iOS 26.2, which contains new Side button settings that allow users to assign a different voice assistant to the long-press action, traditionally used to summon Siri. Apple has now confirmed through developer documentation that this capability is meant specifically for Japan.

According to Apple's documentation, iPhone users with an Apple Account set to Japan and a device physically located in Japan will soon be able to map th...