Apple is exploring a major Siri overhaul that could tap Google’s Gemini model to power AI-driven answers and web search, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The companies have reportedly reached a formal testing agreement, signaling Apple may blend its own on-device intelligence with a cloud-scale model to close the gap with newer AI assistants.
The move would mark a pragmatic shift for Apple. After pushing back a broader Siri refresh to a later software cycle, the company has been evaluating whether its in-house models alone can deliver the kind of open-ended reasoning and up-to-date web knowledge users now expect from tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini.
Why Apple Would Tap Gemini
Apple excels at on-device AI—think rapid speech recognition, image understanding, and personal context—thanks to silicon with a Neural Engine delivering tens of trillions of operations per second. But generative search and long-context reasoning typically benefit from massive, frequently updated cloud models trained on live web data.
Google’s Gemini, a multimodal model used across the company’s own products, fits that bill. It can synthesize text, images, and video, and has already been deployed in consumer search experiences. For Apple, pairing that capability with iOS’s personal context would allow Siri to reason about your schedule, messages, and location while also fetching authoritative, current web information.
There’s a business logic too. Google already pays Apple an estimated $18–$20 billion annually to remain the default search engine in Safari, according to U.S. Department of Justice filings. A deeper AI tie-up could extend that lucrative relationship from traditional links to direct, conversational answers—keeping users inside Apple’s native surfaces while still leveraging Google’s web-scale model.
What Could Change in Siri
The reported plan centers on an AI-powered web search tool inside Siri, with a richer, multimodal interface. Expect answers that combine text, images, short videos, and local points of interest, plus concise summaries for quick comprehension.
Because Apple controls the entire device stack, Siri could also blend private on-device signals—calendar events, emails, messages, photos metadata—to make responses actionable. Think: “Find the best ramen near the venue on my ticket and text the directions to Alex,” or “Summarize the PDF in my Downloads and draft a two-paragraph brief.”
The same underlying capability could appear in Safari and Spotlight. Spotlight, which already answers basic knowledge queries without a traditional web search, could evolve into a true AI answer engine. That would let iPhone users bypass multiple taps and results pages, similar to what dedicated AI browsers and chat-based engines offer today.
Privacy and Antitrust Questions
Any Apple–Google AI collaboration will face immediate privacy scrutiny. Apple has repeatedly emphasized on-device processing and a privacy-preserving cloud architecture it calls Private Cloud Compute. A plausible design is hybrid: personal data stays local for context and control, while a cloud model (such as Gemini) handles open-domain reasoning and web retrieval with encrypted, limited data exchange.
Regulators will also take notice. Google commands roughly 95% of global mobile search market share, according to StatCounter. If Apple front-ends Google’s AI answers inside Siri, Safari, and Spotlight, the two companies could further entrench their dominance in mobile search—an area already under antitrust pressure. Publishers, meanwhile, worry AI summaries will siphon traffic; how sources are attributed and how often users click through will be closely watched.
What It Means for Users and Developers
For users, the upside is straightforward: a smarter Siri that understands context, reasons across apps, and returns trustworthy, up-to-date answers without juggling browsers and chatbots. Latency will be the test—Apple will need to keep responses snappy, especially when mixing on-device processing with cloud calls.
For developers, tighter Siri capabilities could expand App Intents and SiriKit-style integrations, turning natural language into deep links and actions inside third-party apps. If Apple exposes retrieval or summarization hooks, app makers could offer “AI shortcuts” that ride the system assistant instead of building their own inference pipelines.
The strategic takeaway: Apple appears ready to hedge—partnering for web-scale reasoning while continuing to advance its own models and silicon for private, on-device intelligence. With more than two billion active Apple devices reported in investor disclosures, whichever stack powers Siri next will shape how a massive global audience discovers information and gets things done on their phones.