The long-rumored partnership between tech giants Google and Apple is finally official. During the Cloud Next 2026 conference in Las Vegas, Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian confirmed that Google’s Gemini AI will be the engine behind the next generation of Apple Intelligence and a completely revamped Siri.
For years, Siri has faced criticism for falling behind conversational chatbots like ChatGPT. This new collaboration is designed to close that gap, bringing advanced reasoning and better understanding to millions of iPhone users later this year.
A Monumental Partnership
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Standing before a massive Apple logo, Kurian described the deal as a monumental partnership. He confirmed that Google is now Apple’s preferred cloud provider for developing the next generation of Apple Foundation Models.
These models will now power future Apple Intelligence features, including a more personalized Siri coming later this year, Kurian stated. While Apple is known for its walled garden approach, the sheer scale of the AI race has led the company to lean on Google’s massive cloud infrastructure and Gemini technology to provide the brains for its most advanced tasks.
What the New Siri Will Actually Do
The upgrade is expected to arrive as part of iOS 27 this fall. According to early leaks and industry analysts, the Gemini-powered Siri will move away from simple, one-off commands and toward actual conversations.
- Continuous Dialogue: You will be able to ask follow-up questions without repeating “Siri” every time. The AI will remember the context of your previous request.
- Cross-App Awareness: Siri will reportedly be able to see what is on your screen and pull data from your emails or messages to complete complex tasks, like finding a flight number in an email and adding it to a calendar invite.
- Dedicated Siri App: Reports suggest Apple is building a standalone Siri app that features a chat history, making it look and feel much more like ChatGPT or Google’s own Gemini app.
The Agentic Era and Big Investments
The announcement was part of a larger presentation by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who declared that we have entered the agentic era. This is a shift where AI no longer just answers questions but acts as an agent that performs tasks autonomously.
To support this future, Pichai revealed that Google plans to invest a staggering $175 billion to $185 billion in capital expenditure this year alone. He also highlighted how AI is transforming Google’s own internal work, noting that nearly 75% of all new code at the company is now AI-generated and then reviewed by human engineers.
What’s Next?
While Google has confirmed the partnership, Apple is expected to provide the full technical details during its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 8, 2026.
The main question remaining is how Apple will balance this Google partnership with its famous commitment to privacy. It is expected that Apple will use its Private Cloud Compute technology to ensure that even when using Google’s models, your personal data remains inaccessible to both companies.
