Apple Partners With Google To Power Siri: The "Gemini" Era of Apple Intelligence Begins

In a landmark announcement that fundamentally reshapes the AI landscape, Apple and Google have officially entered a multi-year, non-exclusive partnership to power the next generation of Siri and Apple Intelligence with Google's Gemini models.

The deal, announced Monday, January 12, 2026, marks a pivotal shift for Apple, which had previously relied on smaller, in-house models and a "stopgap" integration with OpenAI's ChatGPT. After evaluating competing technologies from OpenAI and Anthropic, Apple chose Google's Gemini as the foundation—bringing state-of-the-art AI to over 2 billion active Apple devices and promising to finally deliver the "smarter" Siri that users have been waiting for since it was first teased at WWDC 2024.

The Official Announcement

In a joint statement, Apple and Google announced:

Apple added in a statement to CNBC:

The Big Picture: Why This Partnership Changes Everything

For the past two years, the narrative has been clear: Apple was falling behind in the AI arms race. While competitors like Google and Samsung rolled out phones with advanced generative features, the iPhone's AI capabilities—branded as "Apple Intelligence"—felt conservative and limited.

The Siri AI overhaul was initially announced at WWDC in mid-2024 but was delayed indefinitely in March 2025 after Apple executives found that "features didn't work properly—or as advertised—in their personal testing." This partnership with Google represents Apple's solution to that challenge.

Prior to this announcement, Apple's strategy relied on three pillars:

1. On-device models: Small, privacy-focused models (approximately 150 billion parameters) for basic tasks
2. Private Cloud Compute (PCC): A secure cloud environment for slightly more complex tasks
3. Third-party plugins: An optional "handoff" to ChatGPT for questions Siri couldn't answer

What changes now? Apple is effectively replacing the "brain" of its ecosystem. Instead of trying to catch up by building its own massive foundational models from scratch, Apple is licensing the best-in-class architecture from its biggest rival.

Key Details: The Comprehensive Breakdown

1. The Technology: "Apple Foundation Models based on Gemini"

Apple is not simply "plugging in" Google Search. The company explicitly stated that the "next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google's Gemini models and cloud technology."

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Google's custom Gemini model for Apple will feature 1.2 trillion parameters—a massive leap from the 150 billion parameters powering Apple's current cloud-based Intelligence features. That's eight times the computational capability, designed specifically for tasks like summarization and planning.

Key Technical Points:

• Google's Gemini model will handle Siri's summarizer and planner functions—the components that help the voice assistant synthesize information and decide how to execute complex tasks
• Some Siri features will continue to use Apple's in-house models
• The integration is white-labeled—no Google branding will be visible to end users. From a user's perspective, this will still be Siri—just dramatically smarter

2. Privacy & Infrastructure: The "Private Cloud" Approach

One of the most critical aspects of this deal is how it handles data. Apple emphasized:

How it works:

• On-device processing: Simple tasks stay entirely on your iPhone
• Apple's Private Cloud Compute: More complex requests use Apple's secure cloud systems
• Google's infrastructure for training: Apple uses Google's cloud (including TPU chips) to train models, but runtime processing happens on Apple's servers
• Data isolation: Google's model runs on Apple's own servers, meaning no user data is shared with Google

This creates a multi-layered privacy approach where simple tasks happen locally, complex requests use Apple's cloud, and only the most demanding queries leverage Google's models—all while keeping user data on Apple infrastructure.

3. Release Timeline

• Announcement Date: January 12, 2026
• Expected Rollout: Spring 2026 with iOS 26.4 (likely March or April)
• Current Status: iOS 26.3 beta 2 is currently in testing

4. Financial Terms

Neither Apple nor Google officially disclosed the financial terms. However, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported in November 2025 that Apple will pay Google approximately $1 billion annually for access to the custom Gemini model.

Bloomberg noted this "seems incredibly cheap, considering all the other big tech giants are spending hundreds of billions of dollars a year on their AI efforts."

5. The OpenAI Question

Apple confirmed that this deal does not end its relationship with OpenAI. As Apple told CNBC, they "aren't making any changes to the agreement." ChatGPT will remain an option for specific "world knowledge" queries, but Gemini will now power the core intelligence of the system.

6. Deal Structure

• Non-Exclusive: The partnership is non-exclusive, meaning Apple retains flexibility to work with other AI providers
• Multi-Year: The collaboration spans multiple years
• Why Google Won: According to Gurman's reporting, what tipped the scales toward Google over Anthropic wasn't model performance alone, but also the price tag

Why This Matters

For Data Scientists & Engineers

This partnership signals massive consolidation in the foundational model market. It suggests that training state-of-the-art Frontier Models has become so capital-intensive that even Apple—the world's most valuable company—prefers to license technology rather than build it entirely in-house.

It also validates the importance of model distillation and edge computing. By integrating Google's trillion-parameter capabilities into models that can run on Apple Silicon (the Neural Engine in your iPhone), Apple and Google are pushing the boundaries of what's possible on-device.

For the Industry

• Google's Win: This is a massive validation for Google's AI division. Powering the iPhone ecosystem cements Gemini as the standard-setter for consumer AI.
• Market Impact: Alphabet (Google's parent company) saw its market cap surpass $4 trillion following the news, reflecting investor confidence.

How It Works: The New Siri Experience

Here's how the "Gemini-powered" Siri will differ from the Siri you use today:

1. Personal Context Understanding: The old Siri was a command-line interface for your voice—it could set timers or open apps. The new Siri is an "agent" that understands your personal context.

   • Example: Apple demonstrated asking Siri about "my mother's flight and lunch reservation plans" and having it pull information from Mail and Messages apps automatically.

2. On-Screen Awareness: Siri will understand what you're looking at. You can be viewing a photo or website and say "Send this to mom," and Siri will understand what "this" refers to.

3. Deeper Per-App Controls: Complex multi-step actions across apps that were previously impossible.

4. Complex Reasoning: If you ask, "Can I make my 5 PM flight if I leave now?", Siri can check traffic, flight status, and TSA wait times to give a reasoned answer.

Who's Saying What

Dan Ives, Wedbush Securities: Called the deal a "major validation moment for Google" and noted it's "an incremental positive to both" Apple and Google, helping Apple get its AI strategy back on track.

Elon Musk: Criticized the deal on X (formerly Twitter), calling it an "unreasonable concentration of power" given Google's dominance with Android and Chrome.

What's Next

The integration is expected to roll out with iOS 26.4 this spring. Here's the timeline:

• Now (January 2026): iOS 26.3 in beta testing
• Spring 2026 (March/April): iOS 26.4 release with new Gemini-powered Siri
• June 2026 (WWDC): Likely showcase of expanded capabilities
• Fall 2026: iPhone 18 launch expected to be marketed around these AI features

For users, the path forward is clear: the Siri you've been waiting for is finally coming—and it's powered by Google.