Two announcements this week just changed how 2 billion people will interact with AI. Apple has completely rebuilt Siri on Google's Gemini model, while Samsung is targeting 800 million Gemini-powered devices by end of 2026.
Two announcements this week just changed how 2 billion people will interact with AI — and most people are sleeping on it.
Apple officially confirmed that the next version of Siri has been completely rebuilt from the ground up on Google's Gemini model, running in part through Apple's Private Cloud Compute infrastructure. Meanwhile, Samsung announced a goal to deploy Gemini across 800 million devices by the end of 2026 — doubling its current footprint.
For context: that's essentially both of the world's largest mobile platforms converging on a single AI model. Not ChatGPT. Not Claude. Gemini.
The implications are massive — for Apple users, for Google's business, for OpenAI's ambitions, and for anyone building AI-powered apps. Let's break it all down.
What Apple Actually Announced
Apple's rebuilt Siri isn't just an upgrade. It's a complete architectural replacement. The old Siri ran on Apple's own on-device models with cloud fallback — models that, frankly, embarrassed the company every time someone compared them to ChatGPT or Gemini.
The new Siri runs on a hybrid architecture:
- On-device inference using Apple Silicon (A18 Pro and M-series chips) for low-latency, privacy-sensitive requests
- Private Cloud Compute for more complex queries — Apple's encrypted cloud layer that processes data without storing it
- Google Gemini (specifically the 1.2 trillion-parameter multimodal version) for the hardest tasks requiring deep reasoning, image understanding, or cross-app workflows
The key new capability Apple is leading with is on-screen awareness. The new Siri can see what's on your screen — an email you're reading, a photo you're viewing, a document you're editing — and act on it intelligently. Ask it to "summarize this contract" or "find flights to the city in this photo" and it doesn't just respond with information. It does the task.
"We've rebuilt Siri from the foundation. The version you've known is gone. What's coming understands context the way a person does — across your apps, your content, and your life." — Apple marketing materials, as reported
This is a major philosophical shift for Apple. For years, the company resisted using external AI models, preferring to build everything in-house for privacy reasons. The Gemini partnership signals that Apple has decided it can't match Google's training infrastructure, and that a hybrid architecture with privacy guarantees is acceptable.
Why Google? Why Not OpenAI or Anthropic?
Apple reportedly evaluated partnerships with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google before choosing Gemini. The decision reportedly came down to three factors.
1. On-Device Capability
Google has spent years optimizing Gemini for edge deployment. Gemini Nano — the smallest tier — runs natively on Pixel phones and is already deployed on Samsung Galaxy devices. Apple needed a partner who could work with Apple Silicon's Neural Engine, not just sell API access. Google had the on-device story. OpenAI doesn't.
2. Multimodal Depth
The new Siri's most impressive demos involve understanding images, screens, and documents simultaneously. Gemini's multimodal architecture was purpose-built for this. GPT-5.4 is also multimodal, but Gemini's native vision capabilities are tighter for real-time on-device inference scenarios.
3. Privacy Architecture Compatibility
Anthropic and OpenAI's models primarily run via cloud API with standard data retention policies that conflict with Apple's privacy commitments. Google agreed to a custom data handling arrangement that routes Apple traffic through Private Cloud Compute with zero-retention guarantees — a deal structure that required Google's cooperation at the infrastructure level.
The Samsung Play: 800 Million Devices
While Apple's announcement captured headlines, Samsung's is arguably the larger deployment story.
Samsung already uses Google's Gemini models in Galaxy AI features — Circle to Search, Live Translate, Generative Edit in the camera app. But the company's new target is to embed Gemini capabilities into every tier of its device lineup, including mid-range Galaxy A series phones that sell for under $300.
To put that in perspective: Samsung ships roughly 230 million phones per year. The 800 million target is cumulative across devices in use — meaning Gemini will be the default AI on hundreds of millions of devices that have never run a frontier model before.
The Galaxy AI features rolling out in 2026 include:
- Gemini Assistant integration — replacing Samsung's older Bixby routines with Gemini-powered task automation
- AI-powered camera understanding — recognizing scenes, suggesting edits, and providing contextual information about photos
- Cross-app intelligence — Gemini can see across apps on Samsung devices, similar to Apple's on-screen awareness
- Real-time language translation — enhanced with Gemini's multilingual capabilities, supporting 100+ languages
For Samsung, this is also a Bixby exit strategy. Bixby never caught up to Google Assistant or Siri in user satisfaction, and the company clearly decided that competing on AI assistant quality wasn't worth the investment when Google would do it better for them.
What This Means for Google
This is a landmark moment for Alphabet's AI strategy. Google's approach to Gemini has always been distribution-first — get the model onto as many surfaces as possible rather than building a premium standalone product the way OpenAI did with ChatGPT.
The Apple and Samsung deals validate that bet. By 2027, Gemini will be the default AI on:
- All Apple devices (via the new Siri)
- The majority of Android devices (via Samsung and the wider Android ecosystem)
- Google's own products (Search, Workspace, Chrome, YouTube)
That's a distribution footprint no other AI company can match. Even if OpenAI's GPT-5.4 or Anthropic's Claude Opus outperform Gemini on benchmarks, neither is positioned to become the default AI for billions of users across both major mobile platforms.
The financial implications are significant too. These device partnerships are likely revenue-generating for Google — similar to its existing deal where Google pays Apple approximately $18-20 billion per year to be the default search engine on Safari. The AI equivalent of that deal could be worth considerably more as AI inference costs drop and usage scales.
What This Means for iPhone Users
If you're an iPhone user, here's what to expect.
Short Term (2026)
The rebuilt Siri starts rolling out with iOS 20. Early access beta users report dramatically better performance on complex multi-step requests. The "Siri is dumb" meme is reportedly dead — early reviewers say it's genuinely competitive with direct Gemini usage via the app.
Medium Term (2026-2027)
On-screen awareness expands to more apps. Third-party developers get APIs to integrate Siri's new capabilities, similar to how developers can use on-device ML today. Expect a wave of app updates that surface Gemini-powered features through Siri shortcuts.
Privacy Considerations
Apple's private cloud compute layer means most Gemini queries don't go to Google's servers in a traditional sense — they're processed through Apple's infrastructure with encryption and zero-retention. Apple has published documentation on the architecture for independent verification. That said, complex queries do touch Google's model infrastructure at some point in the pipeline, which is worth understanding before assuming complete data isolation.
What This Means for OpenAI and Anthropic
Neither company is named in these deals, and that matters strategically.
OpenAI had a deal with Apple in 2025 to integrate ChatGPT into Siri for complex queries — but this was always framed as a temporary arrangement while Apple developed its long-term AI strategy. The Gemini deal appears to be that long-term strategy.
For OpenAI, losing the iPhone as a default AI surface is significant. The company has responded by doubling down on ChatGPT's own app ecosystem, the voice interface, and enterprise sales. But the consumer mindshare battle for "what AI is on my phone" is looking increasingly like Google's to win.
Anthropic's Claude, meanwhile, has focused less on consumer device integration and more on developer tools (Claude Code, the API) and enterprise contracts. The device layer has never been their primary battleground, so the Apple-Google deal doesn't directly threaten their roadmap — but it does reinforce that the mass-market consumer AI war is being fought between Google and OpenAI, with Anthropic as the B2B specialist.
The Bigger Picture: Device AI Is the Next Platform
The Apple-Samsung-Gemini convergence isn't just a product story. It's a platform story.
The shift from "AI as a cloud app you open" to "AI as a layer built into your device" represents the same transition that happened when the internet moved from desktop websites to native mobile apps. The companies that owned the native layer — Apple and Google — captured enormous value. The same dynamic is playing out now with AI.
By embedding AI at the OS level, Apple and Samsung are making their devices genuinely smarter, not just giving users a gateway to external AI services. Apps that don't integrate with on-device AI will feel dated within two years — the same way apps that ignored push notifications, GPS, or cameras felt dated in the early smartphone era.
For developers, this means the next wave of app differentiation will be AI-native features powered by on-device models. For users, it means AI stops feeling like a separate tool you have to consciously use and starts feeling like a feature of your device that's simply there.
People Also Ask
Will the new Siri replace ChatGPT on iPhone?
The rebuilt Siri powered by Gemini handles the vast majority of AI tasks on-device. The previous ChatGPT integration (for complex queries that Siri couldn't handle) may remain in some capacity, but the need to hand off to ChatGPT should be much rarer with Gemini's capabilities. For power users who want ChatGPT's specific features, the standalone app still exists.
Does Apple's Gemini deal mean my data goes to Google?
Apple has designed the architecture so that most queries are processed through Private Cloud Compute with zero-retention guarantees. Complex queries that require Gemini's full capabilities do interact with Google's infrastructure, but under a custom data agreement. Apple's documentation describes it as "no persistent identifiers, no training on your data." The full details are available in Apple's privacy documentation for those who want to verify.
What happens to Bixby with Samsung's Gemini expansion?
Samsung hasn't officially killed Bixby, but the functional replacement is underway. Galaxy AI powered by Gemini handles the core assistant capabilities. Bixby remains as a name and brand for device-specific routines but loses its AI differentiation role.
Final Thoughts
The Apple-Gemini partnership and Samsung's 800-million-device ambition represent the most significant shift in the AI landscape since ChatGPT launched. Not because the models are dramatically better (though the new Siri reportedly is), but because AI just became infrastructure — built into the devices that 2 billion people use every day, by default, with no opt-in required.
The AI tools race isn't just between ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.com anymore. It's a race to own the layer where users naturally interact with AI. Google just took a massive lead on that front.
If you're building on AI — whether that's products, workflows, or content — the device-layer shift is worth paying close attention to. The next generation of AI-native apps won't ask users to open a chat window. They'll be woven into everything users are already doing.
Want to get ahead of the AI-native wave? Whether you're building with AI or just trying to use it more effectively, having the right prompts and workflows in place is the difference between staying current and falling behind. Our prompt packs at wowhow.cloud are built for exactly this moment — tested, refined, and ready to use across every major AI platform including Gemini.
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Written by
Promptium Team
Expert contributor at WOWHOW. Writing about AI, development, automation, and building products that ship.
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