Apple partners with Google to bring Gemini 3 into Siri

Apple’s biggest AI promise has never been “more features.” It has been one simple feeling, Siri should finally understand you without you fighting your phone.

On January 12, 2026, Apple and Google issued a joint statement announcing a multi-year AI partnership, a rare unified front for two companies often treated as rivals.

The statement said the next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google’s Gemini models and Google Cloud technology, and will power future Apple Intelligence features, including a more personalized Siri coming this year.

This is not just an “Apple integrates a chatbot” story. It is them choosing a model family to sit under Siri’s logic, while trying to keep the Apple privacy narrative intact.

Why this deal matters

Apple controls the default assistant on one of the world’s most valuable consumer platforms. If Siri gets meaningfully better, it changes how people search, shop, and navigate apps.

For Google, the win is distribution. Reuters pointed to Apple’s two billion-plus active devices as the scale prize for Alphabet. In effect, Google just bought the ultimate front-end for Gemini: Siri.

What Apple and Google actually announced

Multi-year partnership: Confirmed via a joint statement from both companies.

Foundation layer: Apple said its next Apple Foundation Models will be based on Gemini models and Google Cloud tech. Neither company named a specific Gemini version in the announcement.

Context for searchers:Google’s latest flagship generation, Gemini 3, shipped in late 2025.

Siri timeline: Apple said a more personalized Siri is coming this year; industry reporting points to iOS 26.4 as the likely release vehicle.

Privacy posture: Apple emphasized Apple Intelligence will run on-device and via Private Cloud Compute (PCC), the “shield” they points to for using powerful models without handing user data to outside parties.

Terms: Financial terms were not disclosed.

Between the lines: Apple is becoming an AI broker

Apple already added ChatGPT into Siri in 2024 as an opt-in option for complex queries, and Reuters notes that remains part of the picture. This Gemini deal sits at a different layer. Think of it as a hierarchy:

Gemini is the infrastructure, the “brain” Apple is placing under Siri’s reasoning and Apple Foundation Models. It shapes how Siri understands intent, keeps context, and decides what to do next.

ChatGPT is the plugin, the “encyclopedia” Siri can optionally consult for outside knowledge when a user explicitly chooses that handoff.

One more nuance that matters for how users experience it: reporting around the Siri overhaul has described the Gemini layer as effectively white-label, a silent engine under the hood, not a branded “Powered by Google” experience.

That’s the point of the brokerage where they keeps the interface, policy, and trust story, while swapping model horsepower behind the curtain.

What to watch next

Industry reporting tied to Apple code discoveries is already pointing to iOS 26.4 as the launchpad, with expectations clustering around March or April 2026.

Apple hasn’t spelled out what stays on-device, what goes to PCC, and what triggers Gemini, so the privacy story will be proven by real behavior, not press wording.

There’s also backlash risk. Reuters reported Elon Musk criticized the partnership as putting too much power in too few hands. Even if that doesn’t stick, the point lands: when a few model stacks sit behind billions of devices, every failure becomes a reputational event.

Apple just brought Gemini closer to everyday computing than almost any recent distribution deal. Now it has to ship a Siri reboot that feels clearly better and prove PCC can be the shield that lets it tap outside model power without losing trust.