Overview
- Bloomberg reports Apple is finalizing an agreement to pay about $1 billion annually for access to a custom 1.2 trillion-parameter Gemini model, with both companies declining to comment.
- Under the reported plan, Gemini would power Siri’s summarizer and planner components, while other assistant features continue to use Apple’s in‑house models.
- The Google model would run on Apple’s Private Cloud Compute servers, keeping user data off Google’s infrastructure in line with Apple’s privacy posture.
- The revamped assistant, internally codenamed Linwood, is targeted for iOS 26.4 in spring 2026 and is being led by Mike Rockwell and Craig Federighi.
- Apple evaluated models from OpenAI and Anthropic before choosing Google in part on price, and it is developing a roughly 1 trillion-parameter cloud model to eventually replace Gemini; in China, Apple is expected to rely on its own models with local moderation partners.