There have been a number of reports in recent months regarding Apple’s plans for Apple Intelligence and its suite of AI features. With the company’s promised Siri revamp now being delayed, and a release date now coming in 2026, we’ve seen even more rumors swirling around what Apple might do to try to close the gap between itself and other competing smartphone makers.
Now, the latest information circling the mill appears to be that Apple and Google are close to settling a deal that could reportedly cost Apple nearly $1 billion a year. That hefty sum would get the company its own custom Gemini model to power the more conversational Siri. Bloomberg’s report on the matter explains that Apple is in talks to possible pay this amount for access to an “ultrapowerful 1.2 trillion parameter artificial intelligence model.” That new model would power the company’s upcoming Siri revamp, which is meant to make the Apple assistant even more capable.
A new Siri powered by Gemini
Not many are likely to be surprised about this development, as Apple has supposedly even been in talks to acquire Perplexity in the past, and we’ve seen previous reports claiming that Apple and Google might work together to bring Apple Intelligence up to speed with the likes of ChatGPT and Copilot. That said, it’s still a bit jarring to learn that two companies that have often taken shots at each other — especially in recent months with Google’s Pixel ads — might end up relying so heavily on one another.
Apple has previously looked into third-party models as a way to offload the resources needed to power its upgraded Siri, even offering ChatGPT access directly in Siri — though there are a couple of hoops to jump through to utilize it completely. However, with a Gemini model underneath, Siri will hopefully be able to handle complicated requests and actions itself in the same way that Google’s Gemini does on Android devices.
Apple got started in the AI race fairly late, and Samsung has already seen success using Gemini as the model underpinning its own AI features, which often mimic versions of Google features that arrive on the Pixel phone lineup. And while this partnership isn’t confirmed just yet, the fact that Apple seems to be closing in on a deal with Google could mean good news for Apple fans hoping to get more out of Apple Intelligence.
