Google confirms Gemini-powered Siri arrives in 2026 under multi-billion dollar Apple partnership

Google promises Siri powered by Gemini is coming later this year

Google is holding it's annual Cloud Next '26 conference this week and Apple made a surprising appearance during the opening keynote speech. Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian highlighted a list of partner companies including Apple as part of the speech. "Earlier this year, we announced a monumental partnership with one of the world's most iconic brands that will bring the power of our technology to users around the world," Kurian said. Kurian is referring to the deal announced by both companies back in January. The partnership is supposed to bring smart conversations, more personality and privacy safeguards to Apple Intelligence and Siri. He went to say that Google is collaborating with Apple on the next generation of "Apple Foundation Models based on Gemini technology." "These models will help power future Apple Intelligence features, including a more personalized Siri coming later this year." It's a surprising announcement since Apple has yet to announce when the new Siri will arrive outside of promises of "2026." The relevant portion is about 28 minutes into his speech, which you can watch here. What Gemini means for Siri The expectation is that Gemini-Siri will be a major part of iOS 27 which should debut in September alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models and the iPhone Fold. Apple is likely to reveal major iOS 27 features in June during WWDC 2026, where we should hear more about Gemini-powered Apple Intelligence features and Siri. Developer and public beta tests typically release following WWDC in June and July so that should give us an early look this summer. Per Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Siri 2.0 should offer a more "chatbot-like experience" and should be more of an on-device agentic AI for your phone. Apple has publicly struggled to get AI and a revamped Siri properly released since both were promised in 2024. This Gemini collaboration may finally fulfill Apple's ambitions. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Subscribe to Tom's Guide on YouTube and follow us on TikTok.

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Search giant Google has publicly confirmed that Apple's updated Siri, complete with its long-promised personalized responses, will finally be coming out at some point in 2026. In January, Apple confirmed that it had entered into a multi-year deal with Google to use the Gemini model to create Apple's Foundation Models. Google now says that the fruits of Apple's AI labor will be on display before the end of 2026. Speaking at the Google Cloud Next 26 opening keynote, Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian talked about Apple as a key customer of the company. Standing in front of the Apple Logo in the auditorium, he enthused about how Apple was using its technology. "Earlier this year, we announced a monumental partnership with one of the most iconic brands that will bring the power of our technology to users everywhere around the world," he said. "We're collaborating with Apple as their preferred cloud provider to develop the next generation of Apple Foundation Models based on Gemini technology." Kurian went on to say the models will power future Apple Intelligence features, as well as "more personalized Siri coming later this year." While the CEO's statement is more proclaiming how Google Cloud's working with Apple than providing new information, it does at least confirm that Apple's new Siri will finally arrivesometime in 2026. The most probable venue for this launch will be WWDC 2026 in June. As the main launching point for Apple's future operating system updates, it would be a natural place for the new version to be unveiled. Expensive, but context-aware Siri was presented in its new form in 2024, via a WWDC keynote that showed it capable of dealing with more than just voice queries. It was capable of things like on-screen awareness, App Intent support, and responding with personal context based on information in apps. While Apple Intelligence did roll out slowly, Siri didn't. Eventually, Apple had to admit in March 2025 that making its vision of a new Siri was taking longer than expected. The deal, believed to cost Apple in the region of $1 billion per year, gives Apple a considerable leg up the AI ladder, if a costly one. The actual terms of the deal are undisclosed, and it certainly won't allow Google to get its hands on Apple's user data. For privacy's sake, it will be handled on Apple-controlled servers, using its usual high levels of security. How Apple uses the models could be interesting. In March, Apple was reportedly able to distill knowledge and skills from the larger Gemini model to a smaller Apple-controlled version, which could potentially run on a device like an iPhone.

Apple Gets A Shout-Out And Prime Airtime At Google's Cloud Next 2026 Event As Siri Quietly Switches to Gemini

Apple and Google are seemingly entering into a symbiotic relationship, where the former has used its unparalleled financial heft to gain access to the latter's very capable Gemini AI models. And these mutual synergies were apparently hefty enough to merit a dedicated shout-out and prime airtime for Apple at Google's Cloud Next 2026 event. Google used Apple as a very important and lucrative prop to showcase the strength of its Gemini AI models at the just-concluded Google Cloud Next 2026 event. This comes as the Cupertino-based tech giant recently inked a secretive deal with Google that might be worth as much as $5 billion from the get-go, and slated to become progressively more lucrative with time. Under the terms of the deal, Apple will pay Google around $1 billion per year as a licensing fee of sorts for deploying a gigantic 1.2-trillion-parameter custom Gemini AI model on Apple's private servers, where the model would help process the more complex AI queries by using encrypted and stateless data to maintain user privacy. What's more, Apple's revamped chatbot Siri that will launch with iOS 27 is slated to run on Google's own TPUs and cloud infrastructure, albeit under Apple's ownership. The iPhone manufacturer insists that the arrangement would not result in a change in Apple's stringent privacy-related safeguards. The chatbot Siri will reportedly leverage a much more advanced version of Google's Gemini model, known internally as Apple Foundation Models version 11. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the model is expected to be competitive with Gemini 3. Against this lucrative backdrop, it is hardly a surprise that Google would try to give the iPhone manufacturer a dedicated spotlight at its cloud-focused event.