Overview

• Apple’s iPhone 17 launch featured little emphasis on new AI capabilities, reinforcing perceptions that the company is trailing competitors.
• Google’s Gemini became the number one free app on the iPhone App Store, signaling strong interest among iOS users in broad, agentic AI tools.
• Forbes reports the app’s rise is fueled in part by Google’s Nano Banana model, which lets users edit images via descriptive prompts.
• Multiple Apple Intelligence features remain undelivered, and Tom’s Guide reports the major Siri LLM upgrade has slipped to spring 2026.
• Rumors persist that Apple could turn to an external LLM, potentially from Google, to accelerate Siri’s overhaul, with no agreement announced.