At WWDC 2026 Apple unveiled a fully rebuilt Siri that drops its old engine in favor of a custom 1.2-trillion-parameter Gemini model licensed from Google for roughly $1 billion a year. It’s the biggest change to Siri since launch.
What actually changed
The new Siri behaves like a chatbot — closer to ChatGPT or Claude than the command-and-control assistant you’re used to. Key additions:
- Chat interface: a standalone Siri app with back-and-forth conversation, not just one-shot commands.
- System-wide “Search or Ask” gesture: summon Siri from anywhere in iOS.
- Personal context: Siri can now reason over your emails, photos, messages, calendar and files (on-device where possible).
- On-screen awareness: ask about whatever is currently on your display.
- Cross-app actions: chain tasks across multiple apps in one request.
How it compares to ChatGPT and Gemini
Running on Gemini means Siri inherits strong reasoning and multimodal understanding. The trade-off is that some queries are processed in Google’s cloud, which raises the usual privacy questions Apple is trying to address with on-device processing for personal data.
What this means for you
- If you have an iPhone 16 or newer, expect the upgrade in the next iOS point release with Dynamic Island integration.
- You can keep your data more private by limiting which apps Siri may access in Settings > Siri > Personal Context.
- For heavy AI tasks, Siri is now a viable alternative to opening ChatGPT — but power users will still want a dedicated app for long sessions.
FAQ
Does this mean Apple gave up on its own AI? No — Apple still runs on-device models for private data; Gemini handles the heavy reasoning.
Will it work on older iPhones? Full features target iPhone 16 and newer; older devices get a limited version.
Bottom line: Siri finally feels modern, but it’s now powered by Google under the hood.