Apple Hopes to Reinvent Web Search with AI and Privacy in 2026
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Apple is set to debut a new web search feature powered by Apple Foundation Models, which can also utilize Google’s Gemini to gather and summarize information, thereby enhancing Siri’s abilities, according to a report from Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman.
While the new web search feature will utilize Apple’s internally developed models, it will also be able to leverage third-party models developed by Google and other sources via Apple’s Private Cloud Compute. The new Siri is expected to launch in early 2026, likely alongside iOS 26.4.
Bloomberg says Apple plans to release its app-intent-powered Siri in the spring. The features will include enhanced AI web search, powered by Apple’s Foundation Models, which will also fuel the contextual app intent system.
Apple will continue to use third-party models, and Google has reportedly provided a version of Gemini that acts as the web summarizer tool that works through Private Cloud Compute.
There had been concerns that Apple’s search deal with Google could be impacted by the Department of Justice’s lawsuit aimed at breaking up Google’s search monopoly. However, Tuesday’s ruling by a judge permits Google to continue paying Apple to be listed as the default search engine option on iPhone as long as it’s not an exclusive arrangement, as it’s been doing for years. Apple earns an estimated $20 billion annually from Google for this placement. The ruling should allow Apple’s relationship with Google, including its use of Gemini, to continue.
According to the Bloomberg report, the new Siri will have three core components: a planner, a search operator, and a summarizer. Apple’s Foundation Model will serve as the planner and search operator to deal with on-device personal data. Meanwhile, getting the data from the web and collating it will be handled by Google’s model.
The Bloomberg report marks a 180-degree turn from previous reports by the publication, which indicated that Apple could be preparing to abandon its internally developed models in favor of third-party models. Instead, the publication now indicates that the new Siri will be the result of a cooperative effort between on-device Apple models and third-party models to be used via Private Cloud Compute.
This setup would be somewhat similar to the current way Siri uses Google Search, although it would be significantly more sophisticated and private. While Siri Intelligence can handle finding surface information about some subjects, like a celebrity’s birth date or an on-device calendar event, when it can’t handle the query on its own, it conducts a web search via Google. That query is not connected in any way to the users, their devices’ IP addresses, or other identifiers.
Similarly, when the new Siri encounters a query it can’t respond to, it will make a call out to a third party. Apple’s on-device Foundation Models will handle parsing app intent systems and personal data.
That third-party system will likely be Google Gemini, running in Apple’s Private Cloud Compute servers. The information will be summarized and presented to the user.
Apple’s current partnership with OpenAI, which utilizes ChatGPT, passes these queries entirely to ChatGPT, where they’re processed by OpenAI’s servers. The iPhone anonymizes these requests, and OpenAI discards these queries and data, as long as the user isn’t logged into a ChatGPT account. Otherwise, the requests are handled in much the same way as if they were made directly through the ChatGPT app.
Apple appears to have, at least short term, given up on building copycats of the bots already offered by Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI. The Cupertino company will maintain its promise of user privacy and security by routing Siri queries and responses via its Private Cloud Compute servers. This will include those handled by Google’s Gemini model, since it will be a modified version designed to run on Apple’s PCC infrastructure rather than Google’s cloud servers, and will likely have no connection to Google’s Gemini service.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
