Apple is collaborating with Google to drive its artificial intelligence capabilities, including a significant Siri upgrade that will be introduced later this year. According to a joint statement obtained by CNBC’s Jim Cramer, the multiyear partnership will be based on Google’s Gemini and cloud computing on upcoming Apple foundation models.
In a Statement on Monday, Apple stated that “After careful evaluation, we determined that Google’s technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and we’re excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for our users.”
The companies added that the models will remain operational on the Apple devices and the company’s personal cloud computing. Apple declined to comment on the terms of the deal. Google made a reference to CNBC in the joint statement.
Bloomberg had reported in August that Apple was preliminarily discussing with Google a deal to utilize a custom Gemini model to power a new iteration of Siri. The news source subsequently added that Apple was strategizing to spend approximately $1 billion in a year to use Google AI.
However, the deal is another significant indicator of growing trust in Google’s increasing AI agenda and comeback against OpenAI. The search giant registered its highest annual performance since 2009 and outpaced Apple in market capitalization last week, the first time since 2019.
Google is already paying Apple billions of dollars annually to be the default search engine on iPhones. Therefore, that profitable collaboration was soon put into question when Google was discovered to possess an unlawful monopoly on internet searches.
A judge ruled in September against a worst-case scenario that might have forced Google to sell its Chrome browser business. The ruling also enabled Google to keep on with other agreements, like the one with Apple.
Stocks rose after the announcement and subsequently reversed. Google momentarily was above a $4 trillion market value. Since the release of the ChatGPT AI at the end of 2022, Apple has been largely on the margins of the AI frenzy that has engulfed Wall Street.
Big Tech hyperscalers Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms have spent billions of their own dollars on AI products, tools, and infrastructure on behalf of their customers.
That has increased the pressure on the iPhone company to come up with a stunning Siri AI voice upgrade, which it postponed last year until 2026, even though it is advertising the product.
The company said in a statement at the time that “It’s going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year.”
As of now, Apple collaborates with OpenAI to introduce ChatGPT to Siri and Apple Intelligence, when it comes to complex queries that can access the world’s knowledge through the AI model. There is no clarity about what the future of the ChatGPT integration under the Google partnership entails.
The iPhone manufacturer informed CNBC that it is not making any modifications to the deal. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Google has also been steadily advancing its AI program, launching its improved Gemini 3 at the end of last year.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced in October that the company’s cloud business had signed deals with an annual value of more than one billion dollars by the third quarter of 2025, compared with the last two years together.
