Apple and Google are reportedly talking. Could Gemini come to iPhone?
Apple’s iPhones might soon get some new artificial intelligence smarts — courtesy of Google.
A new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman claims that Apple is talking to Google about bringing the company’s AI engine Gemini to the iPhone.
Launched in December last year, Gemini is Google’s most powerful large language AI model yet (it also replaced Google Bard in February this year). And despite some serious hiccups at the start, including generating some very unsettling, historically inaccurate illustrations, it is Google’s most important and ambitious, public-facing AI project right now.
Should the deal between the two companies come to fruition, Gemini might power some new features on the iPhone this year, though details are absent.
The report also claims that Google held similar talks with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, though nothing is final at this point.
If the deal happens, it would be great news for Google (or, alternatively, ChatGPT), who would gain easier access to billions of iPhone users. On the other hand, it could be a sign of defeat for Apple, who appears to be lagging behind competitors when it comes to AI (the company’s own large language model, codenamed Ajax, is reportedly not as powerful as Gemini or ChatGPT).
A previous report from Gurman said Apple has big plans for its iOS 18 mobile platform, likely to be announced in June this year, during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), and these plans include new AI-related features. The new report claims that if the Apple-Google deal goes through, it’s unlikely that it would be announced before WWDC.
Notably, Samsung recently brought some AI features to its Galaxy S24 line of phones, powered by Google’s technology. Google’s own Pixel phones have a number of AI-powered features as well.
Google currently has a deal with Apple, with Google Search being the default search engine on the iPhone. This has put both companies into trouble with regulators, which may take further action should the AI deal go through.