Apple to Spend $1 Billion a Year on Google’s 1.2T Gemini to Power Siri Upgrade

Apple is preparing to pay roughly $1 billion each year for access to Google’s 1.2 trillion-parameter AI, a substantial cross-company agreement that could reshape its AI strategy.

People familiar with the negotiations say Apple and Google are near finalising terms that would let Apple use Google’s advanced Gemini system as the foundation for a major Siri revamp. The redesigned assistant is slated to appear next spring, with more context-aware and capable responses driven by the new model.

The arrangement represents a change from Apple’s usual emphasis on in-house solutions. After trialling several top AI platforms, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude, Apple selected Google’s Gemini as a temporary powerhouse while it continues to build its own next-generation systems.

Under the agreement, Gemini will power Siri’s summarizer and planner features, helping the assistant understand context and carry out complex, multi-step commands. Apple will still route processing through its Private Cloud Compute setup to keep user data segregated from Google’s systems.

Internally known as “Glenwood,” the project is overseen by Mike Rockwell and Craig Federighi, leaders from Apple’s Vision Pro and software teams. The updated Siri — referred to inside Apple as “Linwood” — is expected to ship with iOS 26.4.

Sources say Apple does not intend to make the partnership a public marketing point. Unlike the visible Safari search deal, Google’s role in this pact would remain behind the scenes rather than a branded collaboration.

The move reflects Apple’s acknowledgment that it trails on large-scale AI. Apple’s current cloud model operates at about 150 billion parameters, a small fraction of Gemini’s scale.

To narrow the gap, Apple’s AI group is reportedly developing a 1 trillion-parameter model aimed for next year. Still, Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro remains at the top of many AI performance rankings.

In China, where Google services are restricted, Apple plans to rely on its own models and local filters from partners like Alibaba, and it is also exploring cooperation with Baidu to adapt forthcoming “Apple Intelligence” features for the Chinese market.

As competition among major tech companies intensifies, this quiet collaboration between Apple and Google marks an uncommon alignment of rivals and a notable step toward making Siri a more capable AI assistant.