Apple Partners with Google for AI
Apple and Google announced a $1 billion annual partnership where next-generation Siri will be powered by Google's Gemini technology. This represents an eight-fold model increase from 150B to 1.2T parameters for Apple Intelligence.
This is a strategic earthquake in the AI landscape. Apple—with over $100 billion in cash reserves—concluded it couldn't build competitive AI fast enough in-house and chose to partner rather than continue falling behind. The deal gives Google massive distribution through every iPhone while Apple buys time to develop its own next-generation models, codenamed "Ferret-3," planned for 2026-2027. The partnership puts Google's Gemini at the center of Apple's AI strategy, potentially sidelining OpenAI despite their existing ChatGPT integration. Apple told CNBC it isn't making changes to the OpenAI deal "yet," but the Gemini partnership clearly takes priority for core Siri functionality. For the broader AI market, this validates that even the most cash-rich tech companies are choosing to partner rather than build everything in-house. The speed and scale required to compete in AI is forcing new collaboration models. The enhanced Siri is expected to launch with iOS 26.4 in March or April, giving consumers their first taste of this Google-powered intelligence.
