Google’s Next IPhone Surprise May Not Be An App
Summary
- Google is in talks with Apple to bring Gemini AI to iPhones, with CEO Sundar Pichai aiming to finalize a deal by mid-2025.
- If the deal goes through, Gemini will become part of Apple Intelligence, possibly joining ChatGPT as another AI option built into Siri.
- Apple has already hinted at this possibility, with senior VP Craig Federighi mentioning Gemini support and iOS 18.4 beta code showing backend references to both Google and OpenAI.
Even if you’ve been strictly anti-AI from day one, running from it has become nearly impossible now. While most companies were quick to hop onto the AI bandwagon, hoping to get a jump-start on becoming the next big thing in the industry, Apple sat back and waited for a while.
It wasn’t until the 2024 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) that the company finally announced its AI features under the banner of Apple Intelligence. While Apple Intelligence included a lot of the AI features other brands had been rolling out, such as a Clean Up tool to remove distractions from images, an image-generation feature called Image Playground, and Writing Tools to quickly clean up your emails, the tech giant also showed off a revamped Siri.
Apple announced that the digital assistant is getting a glowing new look, as well as integration with none other than OpenAI’s ChatGPT. If you thought Apple would just stop at partnering with OpenAI, you’re mistaken. Instead of coming for its competitors, Apple seems to be taking an entirely opposite approach this time around, with Gemini support on iPhones right around the corner.
iPhone users might soon get a choice between Gemini and ChatGPT
Google is currently fighting an antitrust case for using anticompetitive practices to dominate online search, where the company is being accused of having contracts with Apple, Samsung, AT&T, and Verizon to set Google as the default search engine on new devices. The case is still underway, and while things aren’t looking too good for Google, and it might be forced to split parts of its business to dismantle its monopoly, the company is doing the opposite of slowing down.
As reported by Reuters, Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, testified during the antitrust investigation on Wednesday, claiming that Google is hoping to enter an agreement with Apple by the middle of 2025 to include Gemini AI on new Apple devices, aiming to make the launch official before the end of 2025.
Source: Lucas Gouveia/Android Police | Golovina Marina/Shutterstock
He mentioned that although Google doesn’t currently have an agreement with Apple to include Gemini AI on iPhones, he has previously spoken with Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, about the possibility. Ultimately, if the deal does go ahead later this year as Pichai hopes, Google Gemini will be included within Apple Intelligence.
The funny thing is, despite Google and Apple being competitors, this isn’t all that surprising. Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president, has previously said in an interview that Apple wants its users to be able to choose which AI models they want, mentioning Google Gemini explicitly.
Additionally, eagle-eyed folks at MacRumors spotted references in Apple’s backend during the iOS 18.4 beta, which included Google and OpenAI both as options for third-party AI models. So, while only time will tell if a deal actually ends up happening, it seems like Apple has already started experimenting with the possibility of bringing Gemini to iPhones.
While testifying, Pichai also mentioned that Google has plans to experiment with including ads in the Gemini app soon.
