Apple is reportedly paying Google $1 billion a year for one massive iPhone upgrade
The estimated worth of Apple's multi-year deal with Google for AI services has been revealed, with experts indicating that it's costing the tech giant around $1 billion annually to launch its new Siri upgrade.
While a hefty cost, it was clearly deemed to be necessary after several years of embarrassment as Apple failed to launch the new and enhanced version of Siri that was originally promised back with the iPhone 16.
Now, following the WWDC 2026 keynote this week, Apple finally revealed the arrival of the AI-powered chatbot alongside the launch of iOS 27, and while it might not have captured the hearts of everyone who was watching, many are glad that it's finally here.
Apple's partnership with Google explained
This new version of Siri seemingly wouldn't be possible without a helping hand from Google, however, as while the two tech juggernauts are firmly rivals in the AI space, they've collaborated on the basis of a hefty financial investment.
It was announced earlier this year that Apple would be utilizing the capabilities of Google's Gemini AI tool to enhance its Siri replacement, following on from the failed implementation of Apple Intelligence in the years prior.
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What we now know, as per Gotrade, is that the deal is worth an estimated figure of $1 billion every single year across the partership, showing that Apple is serious about the importance of its new tool.
While it might seem a little one-sided at first, as Apple gets a huge leg up in arguably the most important tech sector after years of complications, Google is also benefitting significantly from the deal in a financial way, and can subsequently use this guaranteed money every single year to power its own software.
Not everything will be handled by Gemini though, as quick private tasks will be dealt with by the existing Apple Intelligence models on-device, yet anything requiring cloud-heavy reasoning – including the new wild photo editing tools – will be deal with inside of Google's Private Cloud Compute.
What's new with the upgraded Siri?
It might seem similar at first, but Apple's new Siri offers a completely reimagined version of the companion that utilizes the latest AI software at every step of the journey.
Apple claims that it is "more helpful, more capable, and more intelligent" than before, offering natural back-and-forth conversation to help people achieve their tasks with greater efficiency.
It can interact with a wide variety of different apps on your iPhone, including drawing information from iMessage if you've forgotten what a friend told you about, or brainstorming recipes that can then be placed directly into the Notes app without you needing to do anything.
Taking a photo of a restaurant receipt, for example, can let you easily select the items you ordered and find out what you owe your friends who paid the bill, and you can even extend the size of photos taken with the camera, or find a new perspective using mind-bending tools.
It is integrated across almost every eligible device in the Apple ecosystem too, meaning that your conversations and interactions stay consistent no matter where you are.