Apple's New Siri Powered by Gemini

Big News: Apple x Google — A Billion-Dollar Deal

Apple agreed to pay Google approximately $1 billion per year to use Gemini as Siri's main AI engine. This is an interesting deal on multiple fronts:

• Apple admits its own AI isn't sufficient — after years of internal AI development, Apple decided that partnering with Google would be faster and better
• Google gains access to over a billion iPhone users — Gemini will be embedded in every Apple device that updates to iOS 26.4
• This deal resembles the Search Engine agreement — where Apple previously received money from Google to be the default search engine on Safari, worth over $20 billion per year

Exciting New Features

Siri powered by Gemini comes with several new capabilities that completely change how we use smartphones:

1. On-Screen Awareness — Understanding What's on Your Screen

The most interesting feature is On-Screen Awareness — Siri can "see" and "understand" what's displayed on your iPhone screen instantly. For example:

• Looking at a restaurant website and saying "Book a table here tonight" — Siri will pull the restaurant info from the screen and make the reservation
• Received an email about a flight and saying "Add this flight to my calendar" — Siri will extract flight info from Mail and create a Calendar event
• Looking at a photo and saying "Send this photo to Mom" — Siri will send the currently viewed photo via Messages

2. Multi-Step Task Execution — Performing Multi-Step Tasks

The new Siri doesn't just answer questions but can perform multiple consecutive steps in a single command:

• "Find a Japanese restaurant near work, book a table for 4 on Friday, and send the details to the team" — Siri will search, book, and share the info in one go
• "Check flight schedules to Chiang Mai next week, compare prices, and send options to my wife" — Siri will gather info from multiple sources and send it

3. Cross-App Integration — Connecting Across Apps

What makes the new Siri drastically different from before is its ability to work across multiple apps seamlessly:

• Pull flight info from Mail, send details via Messages, and add it to Calendar
• Read booking info from Notes, create a reminder in Reminders, and share location via Maps
• Pull images from Photos, edit text in Pages, and send email via Mail

4. Conversational AI — Continuous Conversation

The new Siri can remember conversational context. You can have a continuous conversation without restarting commands each time, for example:

• "How's the weather today?" → "What about tomorrow?" → "If it rains, should I bring an umbrella?" — Siri understands context throughout the conversation

Features	Old Siri	Siri + Gemini
Screen Understanding	Cannot	On-Screen Awareness
Multi-Step Tasks	Limited capability	Multi-Step Tasks
Cross-App	Select apps only	All apps
Context Memory	Cannot	Continuous conversation
AI Engine	Apple ML	Google Gemini

Privacy: Apple Private Cloud Compute

One of the main concerns when Apple partnered with Google is privacy. Apple addresses this with Private Cloud Compute (PCC) technology:

This approach differs from using ChatGPT or Gemini directly, where data is sent to the provider's servers. Apple's PCC layer as an intermediary allows users to benefit from advanced AI without sacrificing privacy.

A Delayed Journey: From 2025 to 2026

Apple announced AI features for Siri since WWDC 2024, expected to launch in 2025 but was delayed multiple times:

• Mid-2025 — Apple admitted "Apple Intelligence" wasn't ready, multiple features were postponed
• Late 2025 — Reports emerged that Apple was negotiating with Google about Gemini
• January 2026 — Apple and Google officially signed the agreement
• March 2026 — Launched Siri + Gemini via iOS 26.4

This delay reflects that developing production-ready AI is not easy — even a company like Apple with enormous resources had to accept the need for external AI.

Apple's choice to use Gemini instead of developing their own sends a clear signal that foundational AI models require massive investment and specialized expertise — even the world's most valuable company chose to partner rather than build it alone.

— Lessons from the Apple x Google Gemini deal, March 2026

Impact on Enterprise Users

For businesses and organizations, Siri powered by Gemini will change many ways of working:

Advantages for Business

• Increased productivity — employees can give more complex voice commands, reducing time switching between apps
• Cross-app data management — pull data from email, schedule meetings, and share documents in a single command
• Multilingual support — Gemini has significantly better Thai language capabilities compared to the old Siri

Cautions for Business

• Organizational data privacy — even with Apple's PCC, organizations should review data security policies when employees use Siri with sensitive information
• Vendor dependency — Siri now depends on both Apple and Google; if Gemini has issues, Siri will be affected too
• Upgrade costs — older devices may not support iOS 26.4; device upgrade plans need to be considered

In an era where AI plays an increasingly larger role, it's essential for organizations to have strong authentication systems and reliable digital signatures to prevent unauthorized data access through AI channels.

Impact on Thai Users

For iPhone users in Thailand, this change has interesting implications:

Aspect	Impact
Thai Language	Gemini has much better Thai language capabilities than the old Siri, making Thai voice commands smoother
Thai Services	Cross-app integration may still be limited with Thai apps like LINE and banking apps initially
Device Readiness	Requires iPhone 15 Pro or newer, or any iPhone 16 model, to support all features
Thai Developers	New opportunities to build apps supporting Siri Intents with Gemini API

Timeline and Availability

• March 2026 — Launched iOS 26.4 with Siri + Gemini in the United States
• April 2026 — Expanded to English-speaking countries (UK, Australia, Canada)
• Q2-Q3 2026 — Expanded language support including Thai (estimated)
• WWDC 2026 (June 2026) — Apple expected to unveil additional Siri + Gemini features

Conclusion: A New Era of AI Assistants

The Apple x Google Gemini deal for Siri marks a significant turning point for the AI industry because:

• It shows that even tech giants must collaborate in the AI era
• It raises the standard of smartphone AI Assistants by a quantum leap
• It pressures Samsung, Google (for Pixel), and other brands to accelerate their own AI development
• It opens new opportunities for developers and businesses wanting to use AI for work

For Thai organizations, the key is preparing for change — in terms of device updates, reviewing security policies, and finding opportunities to use AI to boost productivity. At the same time, it's important to recognize that AI is a tool that enhances human potential, not a replacement.

Read more about AI and technology: Comparing AI: ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini and Data Security in the Digital Era

References

• Bloomberg — Apple Pays Google $1B for Gemini to Power New Siri
• The Verge — Apple's Siri Gets a Brain Transplant with Google Gemini
• Apple Newsroom — Siri Reimagined: Smarter, More Personal, More Capable
• Google Blog — Gemini Powers the New Siri Experience
• Reuters — Apple-Google Gemini Deal Transforms Siri Into AI Powerhouse