At Google Cloud Next 2026 in Las Vegas, Google Cloud chief Thomas Kurian took the stage and confirmed that Gemini technology will power a smarter, more personalized version of Siri, which will arrive later this year.
He confirmed that when it comes to building the next generation of its foundation models, Apple is treating Google Cloud as its “preferred” partner.
Kurian described the collaboration as a partnership with “one of the most iconic brands” in the world, built to bring Gemini-powered features directly to Apple users everywhere. However, he offered no specific timeline for when this upgraded Siri might debut.
Apple has had a rough stretch getting the smarter Siri out the door. Accuracy problems delayed an anticipated spring rollout, and the feature has been in some form of “coming soon” status since early 2025.
Apple first pushed back the upgraded Siri in March 2025, telling users it would arrive within the coming year.
A few months later, the window shifted to sometime in 2026 with no specific date attached. Then, earlier this year, Apple reconfirmed the 2026 target was still on the table.
Kurian’s statement aligns with all of that, though it does not advance the timeline in any concrete way.
Reports suggested Apple was originally targeting a spring 2026 release window for the Gemini-powered features, but accuracy issues led the team to hit the brakes.
Apple technically has until December 31, 2026, to deliver, and since no firm date was ever publicly announced, the company has had room to adjust its internal schedule without it registering as an official delay.
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Another thing nobody has fully cleared up yet is where the actual processing happens. Apple has its own Private Cloud Compute infrastructure built around user privacy, but it has also asked Google to explore running Siri workloads on Google’s servers.
The expectation is that a smarter Siri will generate significantly more cloud demand than the current version can handle, so Apple wants options ready to go.
June 8 is when WWDC kicks off, and iOS 27 is introduced. That’s realistically the first chance anyone outside Apple will have to see what this new assistant can actually do, and Siri is almost certain to be front and center.
