Apple’s long-delayed Siri upgrade will reportedly “lean on Google’s Gemini” model to power many of its features. It will also include an AI-powered web search.
However, this Gemini integration will supposedly function differently from how Apple currently integrates ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence.
Using Gemini for Siri makes the most business sense for Apple
While Apple’s Siri voice assistant was a prime mover when it launched on the iPhone 4s in 2011, it’s an also-ran now that the tech world’s embraced artificial intelligence. Increasingly capable chatbots like ChatGPT and Google Gemini run circles around Siri.
As a result, Apple’s scrambling to release the AI-powered Siri upgrade it promised in 2024. (See also: 7 exciting features to expect from Siri’s 2026 AI upgrade.)
If everything goes as planned, Apple’s next big Siri update should land in spring 2026. The company’s struggles with developing its own large language models have delayed the release of the next-gen voice assistant. And recently, Apple’s AI division has been hit with many high-profile exits.
The search for a better LLM
Besides developing its own LLMs, Apple also held talks with Anthropic and Google to power the next big Siri upgrade. The company reportedly created two versions of Siri — one built on its in-house models, and another powered by third-party LLMs.
As part of this process, Apple tested models from both Anthropic and Google, even requesting the latter to develop a custom training model that could run on Apple’s servers.
Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman, in the November 2 edition of his Power On newsletter, says Apple will use Google’s Gemini model to power Siri. Despite Anthropic having a better model, the company went with Google as it “made more sense financially.” The already strong search relationship between the two companies further helped. (Google pays Apple $26 billion a year for prime placement as the default search on iPhones, iPads and Macs.)
Siri’s Gemini upgrade won’t work the way ChatGPT does
There will be one major difference between Gemini’s integration and Siri’s current ChatGPT setup. Right now, Apple clearly hands off complex queries to ChatGPT; you can tell when the switch happens.
That won’t be the case with Gemini. Instead of passing queries off, Apple will use Gemini as the underlying model powering Siri itself, according to Gurman. Think of it as Apple quietly tapping into Google’s AI smarts to make its assistant more capable. However, this also means that you should not expect next-gen Siri to mirror Gemini’s feature set on Android.
Rajesh has been closely following and writing about the latest happenings in the world of mobile for nearly a decade now. While he prefers Android, he does not deny the superiority of Apple’s products and ecosystem.
