Apple picks Gemini for Siri and Apple Intelligence

2026-01-12 · Publisher : Apple · Domain : Artificial Intelligence

Apple and Google announce a multi-year partnership: the next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Gemini models and Google cloud technology, including for the more personalized Siri expected in 2026.

On January 12, 2026, Apple and Google issue a joint statement: the next generation of Apple Foundation Models, the models behind Apple Intelligence, will be based on Google's Gemini models and cloud technology. ### What happened - The partnership is multi-year. The new models will power future Apple Intelligence features, including a "more personalized" Siri announced for 2026. - Apple explains its choice: "After careful evaluation, Apple determined that Google's AI technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models." - Apple Intelligence keeps running on devices and on Private Cloud Compute, Apple's private compute infrastructure, with the same privacy commitments. - Financial terms are not disclosed. Bloomberg had reported in 2025 a payment of about 1 billion USD per year for a custom Gemini model (press report, not confirmed by either company). - Apple told CNBC it is not changing its existing agreement with OpenAI, which integrates ChatGPT into Siri for some requests. ### Context Apple had postponed its Siri overhaul in 2025, even though it had featured it in ads: "It's going to take us longer than we thought." Google already pays Apple billions of dollars each year to be the default search engine on the iPhone; a September 2025 ruling in the antitrust case against Google left this kind of deal possible. ### Why it is a turning point Apple usually builds its key technologies in-house. Handing the foundation of its models to a competitor acknowledges Google's lead in foundation models and puts Gemini on an installed base of more than one billion devices. For Google, it is a major commercial validation against OpenAI. ### Key takeaways Apple's model becomes hybrid: execution and privacy at Apple, model intelligence supplied by Gemini. A leading player relying on a third-party model provider becomes an accepted pattern.

Tags : IA, Apple, Google, Gemini, Siri, Partenariat