Apple × Gemini

At WWDC 2026 (06-08) Apple shipped Siri AI on Apple Foundation Models "custom-built in collaboration with Google and its Gemini models" (Apple's own wording), partly hosted on Google's cloud on Nvidia Blackwell GPUs under Private Cloud Compute. Deal terms remain unconfirmed by either company (~$1B/yr is reporter-sourced only, never officially stated). The real regulatory angle is the EU: Apple withheld Siri AI from EU iPhones at launch (06-09) citing DMA compliance after the EU rejected its exemption request — not US antitrust. Track: EU launch resolution, whether the $1B/yr figure ever gets confirmed, whether Apple builds back toward its own frontier model. # crawl 2026-07-27

STATUS · DEVELOPING OPENED · 2026-06-28 LAST SEEN · 2026-07-30

Apple Google

Summary

Apple's Siri AI runs on Foundation Models built with Google's Gemini, but the commercial terms of the deal remain unconfirmed by either company.

Apple's Siri AI, introduced at WWDC 2026, runs on Apple Foundation Models built in collaboration with Google's Gemini models.
Reports of a cloud extension to the deal in late July were incorrect; no such extension occurred.
Apple's iOS 27 public beta, released July 13, brought the Gemini-based Siri AI to a broad set of users.
Part of Siri AI's processing runs on Google's cloud, using Nvidia Blackwell GPUs under Apple's Private Cloud Compute framework.
The deal's reported cost, roughly $1 billion a year, has never been officially confirmed by Apple or Google.

Confirmation of the deal's actual cost and duration from Apple or Google would settle the biggest open question about the arrangement.

2026-06 (WWDC) — Thread opened

Apple unveiled Siri AI with Apple Intelligence Gemini-powered via a Google partnership (alongside 3rd-gen Apple Foundation Models + Private Cloud Compute) — the tell that the distribution giant outsourced the model layer; central to “who controls the stack.”

← Backstory (crawl 2026-07-27 → artifacts/findings/apple-gemini-model-deal-2026-07-27.md)

2026-07-27 — the flagged “07-21/22 cloud extension” traced to a stale re-index

The dated development the weekly sweep flagged as uncovered (“Siri-Gemini cloud-services extension,” ~07-21/22) does not appear to be new news — the MSN item Google News indexed on 07-22 carries a headline near-identical to a 2026-03-02 Gadget Hacks story on the same underlying report, with no independent outlet corroborating a genuinely new cloud-hosting development in the 07-20→07-22 window. Read as a syndication re-date, not a missed story — the real gap in the window was the EU launch fight (06-09, below), not this. (MSN via Google News)

2026-07-13→22 — iOS 27 public beta ships Siri AI broadly

The Gemini-powered Siri AI reached general public-beta testers (US/non-EU) mid-July, with a second public beta 07-22 — routine product rollout, not a new deal-terms development, but confirms the shipped feature is live outside the EU. (TechCrunch · Engadget)

2026-06-09 — the EU blocks the launch; the real regulatory angle

Apple withheld Siri AI from EU iPhones at iOS 27 launch, citing DMA compliance — EU regulators publicly rejected Apple’s exemption request (“no tech rule exemption”); ~450M EU iPhone users affected. This is the actual antitrust/regulatory development in the dark window, distinct from (and better-sourced than) the flagged “cloud extension.” (Reuters · The Verge)

2026-06-08 — WWDC ships the full architecture

Apple’s own newsroom confirms Apple Intelligence is “custom-built in collaboration with Google and its Gemini models,” hosted partly on Google’s cloud on Nvidia Blackwell-class GPUs under Private Cloud Compute’s privacy framing (Nvidia hosting detail reported 06-04, ahead of the keynote). (Apple Newsroom)

2026-03-02 — the cloud-hosting detail first breaks

Apple in talks to host the new Siri’s compute on Google’s cloud rather than purely on-device — first reported via The Information, and the same underlying story that gets mis-dated to July by MSN’s syndication (see 07-27 entry above). (Gadget Hacks)

2026-01-12 — official deal confirmed, terms partially disclosed

Google and Apple jointly confirm a multi-year Gemini partnership: “the next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google’s Gemini models and cloud technology,” with hybrid on-device/Private Cloud Compute processing explicitly preserved. No financial terms or exclusivity disclosed officially — the reported ~$1B/yr figure (Bloomberg, 2025-11-05) has never been confirmed by either company. (Google’s joint statement)

The Projection