Who had Apple conceding it can’t keep up with the rest of the AI industry to kickstart 2026? If you’ve been following TechRadar over the past year or so, you’ll have heard many times that Apple was in discussions with Google to use Gemini foundation models to power the ever-delayed AI Siri upgrade.
Now, just a few weeks into the new year, Apple and Google have confirmed these reports, announcing that the two companies “have entered into a multi-year collaboration under which the next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google's Gemini models and cloud technology.”
This partnership raises uncomfortable questions about Apple’s place in the AI race. Still, the more interesting story is what it unlocks for iPhone users, and why switching to Android suddenly makes a lot less sense.
A bit of background
I’ve been an iPhone user since 2008, essentially growing up alongside Apple’s industry-leading smartphone. In fact, it wasn’t until last year that I decided to see what the world outside of iPhone looked like.
After the latest iPhone launch in September, I moved from an iPhone 16 Pro Max to an iPhone Air, and I absolutely fell in love with Apple’s sleek ultra-thin design. After a few weeks, however, I felt the hollowness that had plagued my smartphone use for years, wanting to try something new to feel a change.
If a new hardware design and an elegant software overhaul (I like Liquid Glass) couldn’t fill the constant void and boredom of using an iPhone, I had to look elsewhere, so I opted to move to Android for a few months to close out the year and get a new perspective on smartphones.
The main driving force behind my decision to switch to a Samsung Galaxy S25, and then to a OnePlus 15R, was mainly to get a glimpse of what using AI features on Android really felt like, considering I’d given up on Apple Intelligence long ago.
Having Gemini built into my smartphone’s operating system has opened my eyes to the possibilities of AI features, way more than what Apple has been able to do until this point. In fact, I’ve started using more Google features than ever before, all because I want the most seamless Gemini integration possible.
I’ve previously talked at length about the main reasons iPhone users should be excited by a Gemini-powered Siri, so I don’t want to dwell too much on that here. Instead, I want to emphasize just how exciting this partnership is, allowing users to get the AI prowess of Android with its own iOS spin.
Apple Intelligence, powered by Google
The joint statement announcing the partnership reads, “After careful evaluation, Apple determined that Google's Al technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and is excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for Apple users.”
What are those new experiences, you might ask? Well, you don’t need to look very far to see just what Gemini integration on a mobile operating system is capable of. One of the best smartphone use cases for AI right now is Circle to Search, which lets users circle an image and quickly search Google for context.
As it stands, iPhone users can access Circle to Search via the Google app on iOS or via Visual Intelligence on a compatible iPhone. The problem is that both ways of interacting with the feature are inconvenient: the former is locked to the Google app, while the latter is sluggish and hard to find.
Now imagine how Google and Apple, combined, could improve AI integration on iPhone across the board, allowing users to simply access Circle to Search as easily as Android users currently can, or even using Google’s excellent models to search throughout iOS.
I had seriously lost trust in Apple’s AI strategy, to the point that I switched to Android to see what was possible on the other side. But now, knowing that Google has the reins, I’m ready to jump back to the Apple ecosystem with a newfound conviction that iPhone AI will succeed.
Apple promised an incredible AI-powered Siri at WWDC 2024, and nearly two years later, we’ve finally got our answer on how the Cupertino-based company is going to achieve that. I, for one, couldn’t be happier that Apple has recognized its AI weakness and instead opted for a foot up from one of its biggest competitors.
We’re only one month into 2026, but for the first time in years, I’m excited about the future of the iPhone. And that excitement is coming from Google, not Cupertino.
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