Apple took a major AI leap last year with the iOS 18 update, when it introduced ChatGPT support for Siri to answer more complex questions. While Apple’s software chief Craig Federighi had said that Apple would look to integrate Google Gemini into iOS in the future, there have been no concrete steps in that direction until now.
Speaking in an interview after WWDC last year, Federighi said, “We may look forward to doing integrations with different models like Google Gemini in the future. I mean, nothing to announce right now, but that’s our direction.”
Gemini coming with iOS 18.4 update?
Apple has pushed out a backend update alongside the iOS 18.4 beta update that now offers OpenAI and Google as options for third-party models in Apple Intelligence, according to analyst Aaron Perris on X.
As Apple Intelligence features have been subject to numerous delays, it’s not clear whether Gemini integration in iPhones will arrive with the iOS 18.4 update in April. However, it is almost certain that ChatGPT will no longer be the exclusive AI partner on Apple devices, as Gemini will also be available as an option at a later date.
Meanwhile, reports suggest that Apple isn’t always planning on relying on third parties to power its AI features, and could release its own conversational model with the iOS 19 update. If this is the case, we could see an update by July, when Apple traditionally holds its WWDC event.
And if Apple’s AI speech model experiment or Gemini push doesn’t go as planned, there’s always the option of using open source models such as Chinese chatbot DeepSeek, which Apple CEO Tim Cook praised during a recent earnings call.
“In general, I think innovation that drives efficiency is a good thing. And, you know, that’s what you see in that (DeepSeek R1) model,” Cook had said about DeepSeek AI.
