Apple confirms Gemini-powered future for Apple Intelligence
In a notable shift in the AI landscape, Apple and Google have announced a multi-year collaboration under which Apple’s next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google’s Gemini models and cloud technology.
According to the joint statement, these models will help power upcoming Apple Intelligence features, including a more personalized Siri, expected later this year.
Apple emphasized that inference will continue to run on-device and via Private Cloud Compute, maintaining its stated privacy standards.
What’s interesting here is the framing: Apple says that after “careful evaluation,” it concluded Google’s AI provides the most capable foundation for its future models. That’s a rare and fairly explicit acknowledgment in an industry where vendors usually avoid naming competitors as technological leaders.
As a Product Hunt Hunter who often ends up hunting Google products, I’ll admit I’m personally excited by this. Not because of brand loyalty, but because it reinforces what many in the AI community have been observing for a while: Google’s foundation model depth and infrastructure have quietly become hard to ignore.
Strategically, this feels less like Apple “outsourcing AI” and more like Apple doing what it does best, focusing on product, UX and privacy, while partnering where it sees a clear technical advantage.
Long term, this could reshape how consumers perceive the Apple vs Google AI rivalry, especially if Siri finally delivers on its long-promised intelligence upgrade.
What do you think about this... is it a pragmatic partnership, temporary bridge or a signal of a deeper realignment in the AI race?
P.S. BTW, today I hunted Pickey, a visual password manager, check it out! :)
Replies
Elser AI
This will have to be a major hit to OpenAI. As a consumer brand, Apple would have been a great fit for OpenAI.
@tinyorgtech Perhaps OpenAI signalizing it wanted to get into Apple's pockets is partly behind the selection of Gemini?
@panama_ace ha! Maybe. It's a crazy "no holds barred" slug match in AI.
Noodle Seed
Anthropic could also have been a good choice. Google has been catching up though.
Apple has a long history of using external tech as scaffolding while it builds or refines its own stack. One key detail here is not Gemini branding, but that inference and control remain on-device or private cloud compute.
This looks less like a realignment and more like a pragmatic gap-filler: leverage best-available models now, keep UX, privacy guarantees, and system integration firmly in Apple’s hands, and preserve the option to swap foundations later.
If anything, it reinforces that foundation models are becoming interchangeable commodities, while product, distribution, and trust are the durable differentiators.
I actually want to say it's better than nothing. However, that would be disrespectful to 'Gemini'. Gemini is currently among my most frequently chosen agents, along with Claude. Competition is good.