Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence models will be used to power Apple’s delayed AI revamp of its digital assistant Siri in 2026, the two companies announced on Tuesday.
The multi-year deal, which will reportedly cost Apple around $US1 billion ($1.5 billion) per year, was confirmed in a joint statement following months of reports and speculation about a potential agreement between the two technology giants.
The next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Gemini and Google’s cloud technologies, and will “help power future Apple Intelligence features, including a more personalised Siri coming this year”, the companies said.
“After careful evaluation, Apple determined that Google's Al technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and is excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for Apple users,” read their joint statement.
“Apple Intelligence will continue to run on Apple devices and Private Cloud Compute, while maintaining Apple's industry-leading privacy standards.”
Apple introduced its generative AI suite Apple Intelligence in 2024, but its integration of features such as image generation, writing assistance, and information summarisation has lagged that of competitors such as Google and Samsung.
The delayed AI overhaul of Siri — which has only seen relatively minor upgrades since Apple acquired and popularised the assistant in the early 2010s — has frustrated some Apple customers, as the company's heavily marketed generative AI revamp has yet to eventuate.
The project was indefinitely delayed in 2025 and Apple pulled a series of TV advertisements it had used to promote an unreleased version of Siri, which one executive reportedly said had made the delays especially “ugly”.
Elon Musk, whose Grok AI is in hot water for allowing users to generate sexualised deepfakes, reacted to Apple and Google's deal by posting on his social media platform X, "This seems like an unreasonable concentration of power for Google, given that the [sic] also have [operating system] Android and [web browser] Chrome."
Google has reportedly paid Apple billions of dollars each year to be the default search engine in Apple's Safari web browser.
What ‘a more personalised Siri’ could look like
Advertisements promoting “a more personalised Siri” which Apple pulled from the air suggested the assistant's major AI upgrades would allow it to perform more actions on a user’s behalf, and to have a detailed understanding of their personal context.
In one of the ads which starred Bella Ramsey, the British actor was depicted asking Siri to remind them of the name of someone they had met at a specific cafe a few months ago — a contextual AI feature yet to be added to Siri.
Apple has also said its upgraded Siri will have “the ability to take action for you within and across your apps”, suggesting some agent-like capabilities and greater awareness of what is appearing on a user’s screen.
The company has also previously shown an iPhone user asking Siri to provide information about their mother’s flight and lunch plans, using information it gained from their messages and emails.
The new version of Siri is expected to be introduced either in iOS 26.4 in March or April, or with iOS 27 in September.
More AI integrations expected for Apple Intelligence
Apple CEO Tim Cook has previously stated the company planned to launch Apple Intelligence integrations with more AI companies over time.
OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT has already been integrated into parts of Apple Intelligence to handle particular text and image generation tasks which Siri and Apple Intelligence cannot handle.
The deal signed between Apple and Google, although expected, may be another complication for OpenAI, whose CEO Sam Altman recently issued a "Code Red" amid increasing competition from Google and other AI rivals.
Apple declined to comment when asked whether ChatGPT’s integration within Apple Intelligence would change given the deal to utilise Google’s Gemini models.
While no further AI deals have been announced, Apple has reportedly considered integrating AI models from the likes of Anthropic and Perplexity into its software.
It has also flagged it will likely add AI search providers into its Safari browser, such as Perplexity.
Apple reshuffled its AI executive ranks in 2025 amid delays to Siri’s revamp and slow updates to Apple Intelligence, with AI head John Giannandrea reportedly replaced by Mike Rockwell, who had headed the team which developed Apple’s Vision Pro augmented reality headset.
Giannandrea’s forthcoming retirement was then confirmed in December, with former Google and Microsoft AI researcher Amar Subramanya announced as Apple's new vice president of AI.
Alongside a more personalised Siri, Apple is also expected to either tease or release its first foldable iPhone in 2026, entering a market which the likes of Google and Samsung already compete in.
