Apple Chooses Google Gemini for New Siri in $1bn-a-Year Deal

Apple has decided to rebuild Siri around Google Gemini technology, choosing its long-time competitor as a core supplier for the next phase of its voice assistant and intelligence features.

The agreement, announced on Monday, hands Google a function inside Apple’s ecosystem at a moment when Apple has had issues trying to scale in advanced software development. 

Under the deal, Google Gemini models will power the upcoming version of Siri and extend into other features tied to Apple Intelligence, a clear transition away from Apple’s tradition of relying almost entirely on its own tools.

Gemini already underpins key features in Samsung’s Galaxy devices, but Apple’s reach is much larger. With more than two billion active devices worldwide, Apple offers Google access to a scale that few platforms can match.

“After careful evaluation, Apple determined Google’s AI technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models,” Google said, adding that Gemini will support future Apple Intelligence features as well.

While neither company disclosed financial terms, industry reports put the deal at roughly $1 billion per year. If accurate, it would rank among the largest licensing agreements of its kind and underline how urgent Apple’s position has become. 

Gemini 3, Google’s latest flagship model, reportedly runs on about 1.2 trillion parameters. Apple’s internal models are believed to be far smaller, a gap that helps explain why Apple looked outside after repeated delays.

Those delays have been expensive. Since mid-2024, Apple has pushed back major improvements to Siri several times. Executive reshuffles followed, and the first wave of Apple’s generative tools failed to impress users or developers. 

Apple had already opened the door to outside help late last year by integrating ChatGPT into its devices. That arrangement allowed Siri to hand off complex questions to the chatbot, but only if users opted in. 

The new setup changes the balance. Gemini will sit much closer to the core of Apple’s system, while ChatGPT remains a secondary option.

“Apple’s decision to use Google’s Gemini models for Siri shifts OpenAI into a more supporting role, with ChatGPT remaining positioned for complex, opt-in queries rather than the default intelligence layer,” said Parth Talsania, CEO of Equisights Research.

However, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk wrote on X: “This seems like an unreasonable concentration of power for Google, given that (they) also have Android and Chrome.” Musk runs his own firm, xAI, which is investing heavily to compete with the biggest players.

Beyond the technology itself, the deal strengthens a commercial relationship that has lasted for years. Google already pays Apple tens of billions of dollars annually to remain the default search engine on iPhones and other devices.

Adding Gemini tightens that bond and makes Google even more embedded in Apple’s daily operations.

Investors welcomed the news. Alphabet’s market value climbed above $4 trillion on Monday, placing it in a small club alongside Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple itself. The company’s shares rose 65% last year, driven by growing trust in its strategy and speedy progress across text, image and video systems.

Google also moved quickly to address issues around data use. “Apple Intelligence will continue to run on Apple devices and Private Cloud Compute, while maintaining Apple’s industry-leading privacy standards,” the company said.

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