Google is on the verge of securing a massive $1 billion-a-year contract to become the AI engine for its biggest rival, Apple. This monumental deal will see Google’s advanced Gemini AI model integrated deep within Apple’s ecosystem to power a long-awaited overhaul of Siri. Apple is banking on Google’s technology to rebuild its voice assistant from the ground up, with a powerful 1.2 trillion parameter version of Gemini set to handle Siri’s most complex cognitive tasks, including summarization and multi-step planning.
This partnership represents a significant strategic victory for Google’s AI division, placing its flagship model at the heart of the iPhone, the world’s most profitable smartphone. The deal was struck after Apple evaluated all major players, including OpenAI and Anthropic, and concluded that Gemini offered the best-in-class performance. For Apple, this is a pragmatic, if temporary, solution to its well-documented struggles in the generative AI space, allowing it to deliver a competitive product next year while its own internal AI teams race to catch up.
The integration is part of a massive internal effort at Apple, code-named “Glenwood,” led by senior executives Craig Federighi and Mike Rockwell. The goal is to launch the new Siri, code-named “Linwood,” in the spring of next year, likely with the iOS 26.4 update. This custom Gemini system is a quantum leap from the 150-billion parameter model currently used for Apple’s cloud AI, providing a massive boost in power, contextual understanding, and the ability to process complex data.
Despite using a rival’s core technology, Apple is imposing strict privacy controls. The Gemini model will run exclusively on Apple’s Private Cloud Compute servers. This “walled-off” approach ensures that no user data is ever sent to or processed by Google, a critical component for maintaining Apple’s brand trust. Google’s role will be that of a silent technology supplier, unlike its highly public default search engine deal in Safari. This lack of public promotion suggests Apple wants users to see the new Siri as an Apple innovation, even if the engine is built by Google.
This agreement is separate from previous discussions about integrating Gemini as a user-facing chatbot within iOS, talks which ultimately did not materialize. While Apple has already integrated ChatGPT as an optional chatbot, this new deal is far deeper, embedding Gemini into Siri’s core functionality. However, Apple’s long-term ambition remains clear: it intends to eventually replace Gemini with its own in-house solution, and its model team is reportedly working on a 1 trillion parameter cloud model to achieve that goal as early as next year.