Apple shipped the rebuilt Siri, and said out loud that Google helped build the models
The company that built its brand on doing its own silicon, its own maps and its own chips now ships an assistant whose models were custom built in collaboration with Google, and it put that sentence in its own press release.
iOS 27 went out on 14 September and carried Siri AI, the assistant Apple rebuilt after years of the old one being the thing people apologised for. Apple describes it as conversational, aware of what is on the screen, able to hold context across a back and forth, and able to act inside apps. The models behind it are Apple Foundation Models custom built in collaboration with Google and its Gemini models, split between the device and Private Cloud Compute, which is Apple's own server tier that is meant to process a request without storing it. It ships as a beta in English, with five more languages promised next month, and it is not available in the European Union or in China.
Why this one is different
Every large assistant so far has been a lab's own model wearing the vendor's name. This one is neither: it is not Gemini with an Apple badge, and it is not an Apple model trained alone. Apple named the partner in its own announcement, which is the part that would have been unthinkable a year ago, and it did so while keeping the privacy tier and the brand. The reach is what makes it matter. No other assistant arrives pre-installed on the phone in a billion pockets.
Apple named Google in its own press release.
How we got here
- 12 Jan 2026CNBC reports Apple has picked Google's Gemini to run the rebuilt Siri.
- 22 Apr 2026Google confirms publicly that a Gemini powered Siri is coming this year.
- Jun 2026Apple unveils Siri AI at WWDC, alongside the next generation of Apple Intelligence.
- 14 Jul 2026The iOS 27 public beta opens the new Siri to anyone willing to run beta software.
- 16 Jul 2026The EU orders Google to open Android to rival assistants, under the Digital Markets Act.
- 14 Sep 2026iOS 27 ships. English only, and not in the EU or China.
What it does and does not mean
Apple has not said which requests go where. The announcement names the collaboration but not the split: it does not say which queries stay on the phone, which reach Private Cloud Compute, whether any leave Apple's own hardware, or what Google receives. Nor has Apple given a date for the European Union, where the same Digital Markets Act that forced Google to open Android is the reason most often given for Apple shipping features late. What is settled is narrower and still large: the biggest distribution channel in consumer computing now runs on models a rival helped train, and Apple decided it was better to say so than to be found out.