Apple Secures $1 Billion Google AI Deal to Enhance Siri’s Capabilities
Apple has agreed to pay approximately $1 billion annually for access to Google's Gemini AI model, a 1.2 trillion-parameter system, to power Siri's upcoming upgrades. The deal, reported by Bloomberg, will enable advanced features like complex command handling and summarization while maintaining user privacy through Apple's Private Cloud Compute servers.
The arrangement serves as a stopgap measure while Apple develops its own trillion-parameter AI model, expected to launch as early as next year. Internally codenamed Linwood, the enhanced Siri is slated for release in iOS 26.4 next spring.
Unlike Apple's public search partnership with Google, this AI collaboration will operate behind the scenes. After evaluating models from OpenAI and Anthropic, Apple determined Gemini offered the optimal balance of performance and data protection for its ecosystem.
