Apple calls on Google to help smarten up Siri and bring other AI
features to the iPhone
[January 13, 2026] By
MICHAEL LIEDTKE
Apple will rely on Google to help finish its efforts to smarten up its
virtual assistant Siri and bring other artificial intelligence features
to the iPhone as the trendsetting company plays catch up in technology's
latest craze.
The deal allowing Apple to tap into Google's AI technology was disclosed
Monday in a joint statement from the Silicon Valley powerhouses. The
partnership will draw upon Google's Gemini technology to customize a
suite of AI features dubbed “Apple Intelligence” on the iPhone and other
products.
After Google and others took the early lead in the AI race, Apple
promised to plant its first big stake in the field with an array of new
features that were supposed to be coming to the iPhone in 2024 as part
of a ballyhooed software upgrade.
But many of Apple's AI features remain in the development phase, while
Google and Samsung have been rolling out more of the technology on their
own devices. One of the most glaring AI omissions on the iPhone has been
a promised overhaul of Siri that was supposed to transform the
often-confused assistant into a more conversational and versatile
multitasker.
Google even subtly mocked the iPhone’s AI shortcomings in ads promoting
the release of its latest Pixel phone last summer.
Apple's AI missteps prompted the Cupertino, California, company to
acknowledge last year that its Siri upgrade wouldn't happen until some
point during 2026.
Getting Apple to endorse its AI implicitly represents a coup for Google,
which has been steadily releasing more features built on its Gemini
technology in its search engine and Gmail. The progress has intensified
Google's competition with OpenAI and its ChatGPT chatbot, which already
has a deal with Apple that makes it an option on the iPhone.
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives hailed the Apple deal as a “major
validation moment for Google,” in a Monday research note.
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 Google's AI inroads have helped its
corporate parent, Alphabet Inc., become slightly more valuable than
Apple in the assessment of investors. Alphabet marked a milestone
Monday when it surpassed a market value of $4 trillion for the first
time.
Even so, Alphabet's market value remained about
$150 billion above Apple, which for years ranked as the world's most
valuable company before the rise of AI changed the stakes.
Three other companies have joined the $4 trillion club in the past
year, with AI chipmaker Nvidia becoming the first last July. Apple
and Microsoft also broke the barrier last year, although the market
values of those two longtime rivals are now below $4 trillion.
Nvidia’s market value briefly topped $5 trillion in late October,
before backtracking amid recurring worries that the hundreds of
billions of dollars pouring into AI technology may be creating an
investment bubble that will eventually burst. With its chipsets
designed for AI still in high demand, Nvidia remains atop the heap
with a $4.5 trillion market value.
Alphabet's stock price has been on a tear since early September when
Google dodged the U.S. government’s attempt to break up its internet
empire following a ruling last year that branded its ubiquitous
search engine an illegal monopoly.
In an effort to prevent further abuses, a federal judge overseeing
the case ordered a shake-up that investors widely interpreted as a
relative slap on the wrist, resulting in a 57% increase in
Alphabet’s stock price since then that has created an additional
$1.4 trillion in shareholder wealth.
The ruling also left the door open for a long-running alliance in
search between Google and Apple. Google pays Apple more than$20
billion annually to be the preferred search engine on the iPhone and
other Apple products — an arrangement that is still allowed with a
few modifications under the judge's decision in the search case.
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