Google confirms: the new Siri will be powered by Gemini

Las Vegas, April 22, 2026 — Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian confirmed during the Google Cloud Next 2026 conference that the Gemini model will be the “brain” behind Apple’s revamped, more personalised Siri assistant, set to ship later this year.

According to MacRumors and AppleInsider, Google is acting as Apple’s preferred cloud provider to build the next generation of Apple Foundation Models on top of Gemini infrastructure. Those models will power Apple Intelligence features, including the long-anticipated context-aware Siri.

An unusual partnership of rivals

The deal follows Apple’s struggles to develop in-house large language models on a par with those from OpenAI and Google. TechCrunch reports that Google is also deepening ties with Thinking Machines Lab through a multi-billion-dollar agreement disclosed the same April 22.

“Apple has selected Google as its preferred cloud provider to develop the next generation of Apple Foundation Models,” Kurian said on the Las Vegas stage, according to a transcript published by Tempo.

For users in Kosovo and Albania, where the iPhone holds a meaningful share of the premium segment, the most tangible change is expected to be a Siri that understands context-rich speech and interacts with third-party apps more naturally, although Apple has not yet confirmed Albanian-language support.

The arrangement also raises questions about Apple’s AI independence and Google’s role as a long-standing rival. Bloomberg and AppleInsider report that Apple will continue to develop its own models in parallel inside its Private Cloud Compute data centres, while the “public-facing” functions lean on Gemini.

Source: MacRumors, AppleInsider, TechCrunch, Tempo.