Apple to Integrate Google's Gemini AI into Siri in Billion-Dollar Deal, Aiming for Major Overhaul

Apple is reportedly finalizing a landmark agreement to integrate Google's advanced Gemini artificial intelligence model into a revamped version of its voice assistant, Siri, according to reports from Bloomberg and The Times of India. This strategic partnership involves an estimated annual payment of $1 billion from Apple to Google for access to the powerful AI technology. The move signals a significant effort by Apple to enhance Siri's capabilities, which has long been perceived as lagging behind competitors.

The ambitious project, internally codenamed "AFM v10" for the strategic initiative and "Linwood" for the revamped Siri, aims to drastically improve Siri's contextual understanding and ability to execute complex tasks, Bloomberg reported. Users can anticipate the debut of this upgraded Siri with an iOS 26.4 update, expected to roll out in spring 2026.

Despite the substantial investment and the critical role Google's technology will play, Apple intends to keep Google's involvement largely private, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. This discretion is crucial for Apple to maintain the perception that its proprietary technology remains the primary driver of its innovations, distinguishing it from the more public nature of their existing Safari search engine deal.

This collaboration is largely seen as a strategic, albeit temporary, solution while Apple continues to vigorously develop its own in-house artificial intelligence models, macrumors stated. Apple's long-term AI strategy, known as "Apple Intelligence," emphasizes a privacy-first architecture and robust on-device processing capabilities.

Google's Gemini model, boasting an impressive 1.2 trillion parameters, will be specifically tasked with handling Siri's summarizer and planner functions, according to Bloomberg. To uphold Apple's stringent privacy standards, this advanced AI will operate on Apple's Private Cloud Compute servers, ensuring that user data remains isolated and inaccessible to Google's infrastructure.

Apple's decision to partner with a rival underscores the immense complexity and escalating costs associated with developing cutting-edge AI models, a trend observed across the tech industry, The Times of India noted. For years, Siri has struggled to keep pace with the performance of leading AI assistants such as Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, prompting this significant strategic pivot.

• Siri's Historical Performance and the Need for an Upgrade: Apple's voice assistant, Siri, has consistently faced criticism for its perceived limitations and lack of advanced features when compared to rivals like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, as highlighted by ExtremeTech. Internal testing conducted by Apple revealed that Siri's generative AI functions achieved only 66 to 80 percent accuracy, leading to notable delays in its anticipated overhaul, Bloomberg reported in March 2025. This persistent underperformance has created significant pressure on Apple to deliver a more capable and intelligent voice assistant.

• Strategic Motivations for the Partnership: Apple's primary motivation for this collaboration is to rapidly enhance Siri's intelligence and contextual understanding, acknowledging that it has fallen behind in the competitive generative AI landscape, according to cnet and Bloomberg. For Google, the deal provides a substantial annual revenue stream and significantly expands the reach of its advanced Gemini AI model, as detailed by Bloomberg. This partnership strategically allows Apple to implement significant AI improvements more quickly than if it relied solely on its internal development efforts.

• Technical Architecture and Privacy Assurance: The integration involves a custom-tailored version of Google's Gemini AI, specifically engineered for deployment within Apple's proprietary Private Cloud Compute framework, the Bangkok Post confirmed. This architectural choice ensures that while Gemini processes complex tasks like summarization and planning, all user data remains encrypted and is processed exclusively on Apple's secure servers, thereby preventing Google from accessing sensitive personal information, MacRumors explained.

• Capabilities of Google Gemini AI: Google's Gemini represents a versatile family of multimodal AI models, proficient in understanding and generating various forms of content, including text, images, and audio, Built In reported. Its capabilities extend to complex functions such as summarizing information, answering intricate questions, and seamlessly integrating with other Google services. The 1.2 trillion parameter model being provided to Apple is significantly more powerful than Apple's current cloud-based models, which operate with 150 billion parameters, Bloomberg noted.

• Apple's Broader AI Vision and Future Plans: While strategically utilizing Google's Gemini, Apple remains committed to its overarching "Apple Intelligence" framework, which integrates both on-device AI models and encrypted cloud processing via its Private Cloud Compute, AInvest detailed. This hybrid approach is designed to deliver advanced AI functionalities while rigorously prioritizing user privacy, with Apple's long-term goal being to eventually transition away from external solutions to its own fully developed advanced models by late 2026.

• Economic and Competitive Landscape: The reported $1 billion annual payment to Google underscores the substantial financial investment required to develop and acquire cutting-edge AI technology, CNET observed. This deal also highlights a growing trend of strategic AI partnerships among major tech companies, driven by the need to access specialized resources and accelerate innovation, a phenomenon analyzed by research from Cambridge Judge Business School. Such collaborations, while fostering innovation, can also raise concerns regarding market dominance and potential power imbalances.

• Historical Context of Apple-Google Collaborations: Apple and Google have a long-standing history characterized by both intense competition and strategic collaboration, most notably through Google's role as the default search engine on Apple's Safari browser, a deal that generates billions in annual revenue for Apple, Analytics Insight reported. However, this new AI partnership is distinct, focusing purely on technology supply rather than co-branding, reflecting Apple's steadfast commitment to maintaining its unique brand identity and user experience.

• Anticipated User Experience and Rollout Timeline: The enhanced Siri, known internally as "Linwood," is slated for introduction with the iOS 26.4 update in spring 2026, according to Bloomberg. Users can expect a significantly more capable assistant, adept at handling complex queries and multi-step tasks, thereby elevating Siri's performance to be more competitive with leading AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude, macrumors stated.