Apple’s Siri rebuild
Apple is overhauling Siri by wiring Google’s 1.2T‑parameter Gemini into a Private Cloud Compute setup in iOS 26.4 — simple tasks run locally, complex queries hit the cloud and the deal is reported at about $1B/year. (x.com) The update adds on‑screen awareness and Safari‑to‑reservation automation (auto‑calendar for flights), and Apple has even hired a Gemini lead engineer amid criticism over WWDC delays. (x.com)
The first public account of Apple’s negotiations with Google appeared in Mark Gurman’s Power On coverage on Nov. 2, 2025, setting off weeks of follow‑up reporting across the tech press. (cnet.com techcrunch.com ) During Apple’s fiscal Q1 2026 earnings call on Jan. 29, 2026, CEO Tim Cook and CFO Kevan Parekh outlined a hybrid execution strategy — keeping simple inferences on device while routing heavier workloads to Apple’s Private Cloud Compute — and they explicitly declined to disclose commercial terms. (macobserver.com ) Apple’s Dec. 1, 2025 press release announced John Giannandrea’s retirement and named Amar Subramanya as vice president of AI, with Subramanya reporting to Craig Federighi and charged with leading Apple Foundation Models, ML research, and AI safety. (apple.com ) Reporting since November indicates Apple ran a vendor “bake‑off” that included Anthropic and OpenAI before selecting Google, with some outlets reporting Anthropic sought multi‑billion‑dollar terms and OpenAI ultimately declined to participate. (byteiota.com techcrunch.com ) Apple used its January earnings materials to highlight scale: the company told investors its active install base topped more than 2.5 billion devices, a figure analysts say amplifies the reach — and the infrastructure demands — of any platform‑level AI change. (macrumors.com ) Privacy and verification remain open questions in coverage: Apple has described Private Cloud Compute as stripping personally identifiable data before cloud inference, but news outlets and analysts note there has been no independent audit publicly released to validate that claim. (byteiota.com macobserver.com )
