Apple's Gemini powered Siri update likely to release in February, says report — Here's what we can expect

Consumer tech giant Apple's big step to catch up in the artificial intelligence race will see it release the latest Siri update, in partnership with Google's Gemini AI, in the second half of February, as per a Bloomberg report.

The iOS 26.4 update of its digital assistant Siri is being customed developed with Gemini AI, will operate on Apple’s Private Cloud Compute servers that rely on high-end Mac chips for processing, according to another Bloomberg report.

The agencies other reports noted that the iPhone maker is paying Google around $1 billion annually to access the models and may also use it enhance its existing Apple Intelligence features.

Further, Apple's full vision for its AI evolution includes revamping Siri into the company’s first AI chatbot dubbed “Campos”, in a bid to compete against OpenAI and Google, the Bloomberg report added.

The feature is a central piece of Apple’s turnaround plan for the AI market, where it has lagged behind Silicon Valley peers. The Apple Intelligence platform had a rocky rollout in 2024, with features that were underwhelming or slow to arrive.

Shares of Apple gained on the chatbot news, climbing as much as 1.7% to a session high of $250.83. Google parent Alphabet Inc., which is supplying the underlying technology for the project, was up 2.6% to $330.32 as of 2:54 p.m. in New York.

The previously promised, non-chatbot update to Siri — retaining the current interface — is planned for iOS 26.4, due in the coming months. The idea behind that upgrade is to add features unveiled in 2024, including the ability to analyze on-screen content and tap into personal data. It also will be better at searching the web.

The chatbot capabilities will come later in the year, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. The company aims to unveil that technology in June at its Worldwide Developers Conference and release it in September.

Campos, which will have both voice- and typing-based modes, will be the primary new addition to Apple’s upcoming operating systems. The company is integrating it into iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, both code-named Rave, as well as macOS 27, internally known as Fizz.

Other than the chatbot interface, the operating systems aren’t getting big changes this year. Apple is more focused on improving performance and fixing bugs. Last year, it rolled out a major design overhaul, unifying the look and feel of its operating systems.

Internally, Apple is testing the chatbot technology as a standalone Siri app, similar to the ChatGPT and Gemini options available in the App Store. The company doesn’t plan to offer that version to customers, though. Instead, it will integrate the software across its operating systems, like the Siri of today.

A spokesperson for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment.

Embracing the chatbot approach represents a strategic shift for Apple, which has long downplayed the conversational AI tools popularized by OpenAI, Google and Microsoft Corp. Executives have argued that users prefer having AI woven directly into features — something Apple has done with its writing tools, Genmoji emoji generator and notification summaries — rather than standalone chat experiences.

Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineering, said in a June interview with Tom’s Guide that releasing a chatbot was never the company’s goal. Apple didn’t want to send users “off into some chat experience in order to get things done,” he said.

But Apple risked falling further behind rivals without its own chatbot. Samsung Electronics Co., Google and several Chinese smartphone makers have already embedded conversational AI deeply into their operating systems. Such tools have become increasingly essential, with ChatGPT surpassing 800 million weekly active users in October.

OpenAI is poised to become more of an Apple competitor, adding further pressure. The maker of ChatGPT looks to evolve its software into an AI operating system. It’s also working on new devices under the direction of former Apple design chief Jony Ive.

The AI company has poached several dozen Apple engineers in recent months, a move that rankled the iPhone maker’s executives and stoked concerns about OpenAI becoming a threat to its underlying business.

Like ChatGPT and Google Gemini, Apple’s chatbot will allow users to search the web for information, create content, generate images, summarize information and analyze uploaded files. It also will draw on personal data to complete tasks, being able to more easily locate specific files, songs, calendar events and text messages.

Unlike third-party chatbots running on Apple devices, the planned offering is designed to analyze open windows and on-screen content in order to take actions and suggest commands. It will also be able to control device features and settings, allowing it to make phone calls, set timers and launch the camera.

More significantly, Siri will be integrated into all of the company’s core apps, including ones for mail, music, podcasts, TV, Xcode programming software and photos. That will allow users to do much more with just their voice. For instance, they could ask Siri to find a photo based on a description of its contents and edit it with specific preferences — like cropping and color changes. Or a user could ask Siri within the email app to write a message to a friend about upcoming calendar plans.

Campos may let Apple jettison its Spotlight function as well. That feature lets users search for content on their devices and look up a limited array of information, like sports scores and weather details.

One issue under discussion is how much the chatbot will be allowed to remember about its users. ChatGPT and other conversational AI tools can retain an extensive memory of past interactions, allowing them to draw on conversations and personal details when fulfilling requests. Apple is considering sharply limiting this capability in the interest of privacy.

The chatbot will feature an Apple-designed user interface but rely heavily on a custom AI model developed by the Google Gemini team — an arrangement first reported by Bloomberg News last year.

The iOS 26.4 update of Siri, the one before the true chatbot, will rely on a Google-developed system internally known as Apple Foundation Models version 10. That software will operate at 1.2 trillion parameters, a measure of AI complexity.

Campos, however, will significantly surpass those capabilities. The chatbot will run a higher-end version of the custom Google model, comparable to Gemini 3, that’s known internally as Apple Foundation Models version 11.

In a potential policy shift for Apple, the two partners are discussing hosting the chatbot directly on Google servers running powerful chips known as TPUs, or tensor processing units. The more immediate Siri update, in contrast, will operate on Apple’s own Private Cloud Compute servers, which rely on high-end Mac chips for processing.

Apple is paying Google roughly $1 billion annually for access to the models. The company also may turn to Google technology to enhance existing Apple Intelligence features. Bloomberg first reported last June that Apple was mulling the use of outside models to fix its AI woes.

Apple is designing Campos so that its underlying models can be swapped out over time. That means the company will have the flexibility to move away from Google-powered systems in the future if it so chooses. Apple has also tested the chatbot with Chinese AI models, signaling plans to eventually deploy the feature in that country, where Apple Intelligence isn’t yet available.

The next Siri upgrade and Campos will both include a feature called World Knowledge Answers, first reported by Bloomberg in September. It will provide web-summarized responses — similar to Perplexity and ChatGPT — along with citations.

Hints of Apple’s shift toward chatbots surfaced in recent months. Last year, the company internally developed an app dubbed Veritas that turned the new Siri engine into a text-based chatbot interface. The app was strictly for testing and isn’t planned for public release.

The strategic pivot follows Apple leadership changes. Longtime AI chief John Giannandrea was relieved of his role in December, with Federighi consolidating control over Apple’s AI efforts. The company has also hired Amar Subramanya as a vice president of AI reporting to Federighi. He previously helped lead engineering for Gemini at Google.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)