Apple’s Siri makeover comes with a $1B Google tab

Siri gets a wingman

Apple and Google are basically doing the tech-world equivalent of hiring a rival’s top chef to cater your dinner party. According to the report, Apple will pay roughly $1 billion a year to integrate Gemini AI into Siri, giving the assistant a much-needed glow-up.

The twist: Google’s already making way more

Here’s the part that makes the whole thing feel like pocket change with a bow on it: Google already pays Apple about $20 billion a year to stay the iPhone’s default search engine. So yes, Apple is writing a big check — but Google is still the one with the fatter tab.

Why investors should care

This is less about a single line item and more about strategy. Apple gets a shortcut to better AI without building everything in-house from scratch, which could help Siri stop sounding like it’s perpetually 2016. Google gets another high-profile home for Gemini and more proof that its AI models can monetize beyond ads.

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For Apple, this is a tell: the company wants AI speed more than AI purity. For Google, it’s another reminder that in Big Tech, sometimes your fiercest rival can still be your best customer.