How much is Apple paying Google for Gemini?

Apple is paying Google approximately $1 billion per year to integrate Gemini AI models into Siri, powering the assistant's new capabilities in iOS 26 and beyond.

When will the new Siri launch?

The Gemini-powered Siri is expected to debut in iOS 26.4 or iOS 27, with a full reveal at WWDC on June 8, 2026.

Will Siri still use ChatGPT?

Apple is building a multi-provider AI architecture. While ChatGPT was integrated for specific tasks, Gemini will serve as the primary foundation model, with Apple keeping the option to add other providers.

Does this affect user privacy?

Apple maintains its privacy-first approach with on-device processing via Apple Intelligence and Private Cloud Compute for more complex tasks, even with Gemini integration.

How much is Apple paying Google for Gemini?

Apple is paying Google approximately $1 billion per year to integrate Gemini AI models into Siri, powering the assistant's new capabilities in iOS 26 and beyond.

When will the new Siri launch?

The Gemini-powered Siri is expected to debut in iOS 26.4 or iOS 27, with a full reveal at WWDC on June 8, 2026.

Will Siri still use ChatGPT?

Apple is building a multi-provider AI architecture. While ChatGPT was integrated for specific tasks, Gemini will serve as the primary foundation model, with Apple keeping the option to add other providers.

Does this affect user privacy?

Apple maintains its privacy-first approach with on-device processing via Apple Intelligence and Private Cloud Compute for more complex tasks, even with Gemini integration.

technology

Apple Pays Google $1B/Year for Gemini-Powered Siri

Apple is paying Google roughly $1 billion per year to power Siri with Gemini AI — replacing years of failed in-house attempts and reshaping the AI assistant landscape ahead of iOS 27.

Published April 3, 2026

$1B/YearGemini AIiOS 27WWDC 2026

Apple Pays Google $1B/Year for Gemini-Powered Siri

$1B

Annual Deal Value

iOS 27

Target Integration

June 8

WWDC 2026 Date

2B+

Active Apple Devices

Key Takeaways

Apple is paying Google approximately $1 billion annually to integrate Gemini AI into Siri, starting with iOS 26.4 and expanding in iOS 27.
The deal follows Apple's failed Siri overhaul — originally planned for 2025 — which suffered repeated delays due to engineering challenges.
Apple Intelligence handles on-device tasks while Gemini powers cloud-based complex queries through Apple's Private Cloud Compute infrastructure.
Apple previously integrated ChatGPT with iOS 18.2 but is now pivoting to a multi-provider strategy, with Gemini as the primary backend and third-party options coming in iOS 27.
Apple aims to transform Siri into a 'systemwide AI agent' capable of cross-app actions, contextual understanding, and proactive suggestions.

Apple and Google Gemini AI partnership for Siri — Photo: MacRumors

The $1 Billion Bet: Why Apple Chose Google

Apple's decision to pay Google roughly $1 billion per year for Gemini AI access marks one of the largest enterprise AI deals in history — and a striking admission that building a world-class language model in-house proved harder than Apple anticipated. The Siri overhaul was originally slated for 2025, but internal reports revealed cascading delays. Apple's AI teams struggled with training infrastructure, data quality, and the sheer pace of competition from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. By mid-2025, leadership made the pragmatic call: license the best external model rather than ship a mediocre homegrown one. Google's Gemini won the contract for several reasons. First, Google already had a deep commercial relationship with Apple through the Safari default search deal (worth an estimated $20 billion annually). Second, Gemini's multimodal capabilities — understanding text, images, code, and audio — aligned with Apple's vision for a systemwide AI agent. Third, Google offered competitive pricing and was willing to run inference through Apple's Private Cloud Compute, satisfying Apple's non-negotiable privacy requirements.

▸ For context: $1B/year for AI is about 0.25% of Apple's annual revenue — a rounding error for a company that spends $30B+ on R&D annually.

Timeline of Siri AI development and delays — Photo: ACS

Siri's Rocky Road to AI

Oct 2011

Siri Debuts on iPhone 4S

Apple introduces Siri as the first mainstream voice assistant, setting the standard for conversational AI on smartphones. Siri quickly becomes iconic but the technology stagnates over the following years.

Jun 2024

Apple Intelligence Announced at WWDC

Apple reveals Apple Intelligence — a suite of on-device AI features for writing, image generation, and smart summaries. Siri gets promised a 'major overhaul' with deeper system integration and natural conversation abilities.

Dec 2024

ChatGPT Integrated into Siri (iOS 18.2)

Apple partners with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT directly into Siri for complex queries. Users can optionally route questions to ChatGPT when Siri cannot handle them natively — the first admission that Siri needs external AI help.

Mid 2025

Siri Overhaul Delayed Again

The promised Siri overhaul misses its 2025 target. Reports cite engineering complexity, LLM training challenges, and difficulty matching the capabilities of GPT-4 and Gemini with Apple's own models.

Feb 2026

Apple-Google Gemini Deal Confirmed

Reports confirm Apple will pay Google approximately $1 billion annually to license Gemini for Siri. The deal covers on-device model distillation and cloud inference through Private Cloud Compute. Initial rollout targets iOS 26.4.

Mar 2026

Siri Multi-Provider Strategy Revealed

Bloomberg reports Apple plans to open Siri to rival AI assistants beyond ChatGPT in iOS 27, allowing users to choose between Gemini, Claude, ChatGPT, and others per task type.

How the Apple-Gemini Architecture Works

On-Device Layer

Apple Intelligence handles basic tasks — summaries, writing assist, photo search — using on-device models optimized for Apple Silicon. No data leaves the device.

Private Cloud Compute

Complex queries route to Apple's Private Cloud Compute servers running Gemini. Data is encrypted end-to-end and Apple claims no logs are stored.

Gemini Multimodal Engine

Gemini processes text, images, code, and audio. Siri gains ability to understand screenshots, analyze documents, and generate contextual responses across apps.

Privacy-First Design

Unlike standard Gemini, Apple's implementation ensures queries are anonymized. Google cannot link requests to specific users or build advertising profiles.

Third-Party Extensions (iOS 27)

Starting iOS 27, developers can plug AI services into Siri via Extensions API. Users choose preferred AI per task — Claude for writing, Gemini for search, etc.

Systemwide AI Agent

The ultimate goal: Siri as a proactive agent that can book flights, manage emails, control smart home devices, and chain multi-step actions across apps autonomously.

Siri AI: Before vs After Gemini

	Pre-Gemini Siri	Post-Gemini Siri
Complex Queries	ChatGPT fallback only	Gemini native + multi-provider
Multimodal Understanding	Text-only for most queries	Text, images, code, audio
Cross-App Actions	Limited app shortcuts	Systemwide AI agent chains
Privacy Model	Data sent to OpenAI servers	Private Cloud Compute (anonymized)
User Choice	ChatGPT or nothing	Choose AI per task type (iOS 27)
Context Awareness	Single-turn conversations	Persistent context across sessions

Apple WWDC 2026 stage with Siri AI presentation — Photo: MacRumors

The deal represents a fundamental shift in how Apple approaches AI. Rather than building everything in-house, Apple is becoming the integration layer — the operating system that orchestrates the best AI models from any provider.

What This Means for the AI Industry

The Apple-Google Gemini deal sends shockwaves through the AI industry for three reasons. First, it validates Google's position in the AI race. Despite OpenAI's early lead with ChatGPT, Google's Gemini has secured what may be the most valuable distribution deal in AI history — access to over 2 billion active Apple devices. Every Siri query on every iPhone, iPad, and Mac could potentially route through Gemini. Second, it pressures OpenAI. ChatGPT went from being Siri's exclusive AI partner to one option among many. OpenAI will need to compete on merit through Apple's Extensions API in iOS 27, rather than relying on a privileged partnership. Third, it establishes a new business model for AI: the platform licensing deal. Just as Google pays Apple billions to be the default search engine in Safari, Google is now essentially paying Apple to be the default AI engine in Siri. The roles are reversed — this time Apple is the buyer, not the seller — but the structure mirrors the Safari search deal that has been one of the most profitable arrangements in tech history.

▸ If you're a developer building AI apps, Apple's Extensions API in iOS 27 could be the biggest distribution opportunity since the App Store — prepare your AI for Siri integration.

WWDC 2026 — June 8

Apple is expected to formally announce the Gemini-powered Siri and the new third-party Extensions API at WWDC on June 8, 2026. iOS 27 beta should follow immediately after the keynote.