With about a month to go until WWDC 2025, we have a pretty good idea of what Apple will announce at the show. This year’s developer event won’t just focus on AI. Instead, Apple will give iOS 19, iPadOS 19, and macOS 16 major redesigns, making its operating systems look and behave more alike than ever before.
But Apple Intelligence will still be a major topic during the event. For starters, Apple can’t ignore the elephant in the room. The smart Siri experience that Apple unveiled at WWDC 2024 turned out to be vaporware.
Apple can’t deliver those Siri features to iPhone users yet, and it might not be ready until next year. Apple will have to explain itself and, hopefully, apologize for misleading users, especially iPhone 16 buyers who purchased one of the four 2024 models for the exclusive AI features.
Apple will also want to add new first-party AI tools to its Apple Intelligence suite. Despite the Siri letdown, I’m still confident Apple can catch up and deliver that advanced AI assistant experience in the near future.
Then there’s the matter of integrating other third-party AI tools into Apple Intelligence, following the inclusion of ChatGPT. We already expect Gemini to join Apple Intelligence, and WWDC 2025 would be the perfect stage for that announcement. Either way, it’s only a matter of time before Gemini is part of Apple Intelligence. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said as much under oath.
Of course, it remains to be seen if that will be good news or bad news. On the surface, more choices seem like a good thing. But the more Apple relies on third parties for AI, the further it seems like we’re getting from Apple’s own advanced AI features, which is what we’re all waiting for.
Google is currently in the final phase of a major antitrust case that it lost. A judge ruled that Google Search is a monopoly, and the DOJ and Google are now in court to determine the remedies the company must adopt to reduce its online search dominance.
Apple is involved in the trial due to the huge payouts it receives for making Google Search the default engine on iPhones. An earlier phase of the case revealed that those payments surged to over $20 billion in recent years.
AI is also a factor in the trial, since it now serves as a direct gateway to web search, whether through ChatGPT or Gemini. Google reportedly paid enormous amounts to put Gemini on Samsung devices.
That’s the context behind Pichai’s testimony this week and his mention of a pending deal with Apple to integrate Gemini into Apple Intelligence.
According to Bloomberg and The Verge, Pichai said he talked to Tim Cook throughout 2024 about bringing Gemini to Apple Intelligence.
The Google executive said he hoped to finalize a deal by mid-2025, which lines up with Apple’s iOS 19 rollout plans. If the agreement comes together soon, Apple might announce Gemini integration at WWDC 2025. We could even see Gemini in iOS 19 beta versions ahead of the global release in September—but that remains speculation.
It’s unclear whether an Apple-Google deal would involve any payment. The Apple-OpenAI arrangement for ChatGPT reportedly had no financial terms, with both companies benefiting from the partnership.
“He [Cook] was trying to understand our plans for how we’re evolving AI technologies, our roadmap, and as part of that, we talked about the Gemini app distribution as well,” Pichai said when the DOJ asked about a deal with Apple.
Pichai also said Cook told him that more third-party AI models would be available in Apple Intelligence later this year. That’s no surprise. Apple needs at least one Chinese AI partner to roll out Apple Intelligence in China. Apple may also want to give users the option to choose which chatbot they want to use by default on iPhones, iPads, and Macs to avoid future legal issues.
Apple doesn’t yet have a chatbot alternative to ChatGPT or Gemini, but it’s working on one. The version of Siri that Apple aimed to launch with Apple Intelligence this year lacked chatbot capabilities.
By the time a Siri chatbot arrives, Apple Intelligence may already support multiple options like ChatGPT and Gemini. That could help Apple avoid regulatory trouble down the line, since it would offer users a choice of chatbot in iOS.
The EU might still act under its DMA regulation, but that’s just speculation. There’s no clear timeline for when a Siri chatbot might be ready or whether Apple’s AI plans for iPhone will come under scrutiny.
Lastly, remember that Craig Federighi said last year that other AI chatbots would be added to Apple Intelligence after ChatGPT, specifically naming Gemini as a possible addition.
Earlier this year, code findings in iOS 18.4 revealed a Google option for Apple Intelligence, suggesting that Gemini integration might already be in testing.
