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[Transcript]

What’s up? Brian Tong here back from hosting CES 2026 in Las Vegas. It was incredible. I’m still recovering. And if you didn’t notice, there’s a whole bunch of content that I put out for you on the channel with my co-host Austine from the greatest showcase of tech in the world in one place at one time.

Now, AI was everywhere, but the biggest AI story of 2026 might have just dropped because Apple has officially confirmed today that Google Gemini will indeed power the next generation of Siri this year. So, Apple is joining forces with Google to power its artificial intelligence features with a major upgrade to Siri that is expected this year.

In Apple’s statement, they said, “After careful evaluation, we determined that Google’s technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation models, and we’re excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for our users.” If they even start by incorporating just some of the new Magic Q features from last year and just have a more competent Siri because of everything Gemini can already do, that’s already a win for Apple users.

Now, this is a multi-year partnership that will rely on Gemini and cloud technology for future Apple foundational models, and the models will run on Apple devices and Certino’s private cloud compute. The terms of this actual deal were not reported, and it was way back in August when Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple was in early talks with Google, and over time, it became more and more clear that Apple and Google would be partners.

So, let’s break this down because Apple completely fumbled their position. And this idea of a personal assistant for your phone before it was even being called AI, right? Apple had the lead when they launched Siri back in 2011 with the iPhone 4S. And the reality is that little was done with it until the first unveiling of Apple intelligence that fell flat on its face. And that was a response to the constant pressure of having a significantly weaker product.

So that failure also then delayed new features and new Apple products that we’re expecting to see in 2025. You could argue it also resulted in Apple scrambling to do something new with iOS 26 without any new features. So it was a facelift to liquid glass in iOS, and that has been a misstep with poor legibility and bugs everywhere. It was really a step back for users on multiple Apple platforms with liquid glass.

Now, Siri and Apple Intelligence have arguably affected Apple negatively more than any product that I can remember in recent history over the last 20 years that I’ve been covering them. And the ripples are everywhere. It also shows how far Google has jumped ahead when it comes to an AI platform that has proven it’s viable for consumers.

Now, when this rolls out, I’ll be curious if these will just be Apple intelligence features or will they be features powered by Google Gemini. But a lot of you living in this Apple bubble will be surprised by how much more your phone can do once it arrives. I know there’s an understandable reaction for people to be worried about what’s happening because of how Google handles user data versus Apple’s hard stance on data privacy.

My guess is that Apple will use Google’s Gemini as the brains to power this, and it will be the backbone of the majority of new features, but your data will be protected and self-contained by a layer that will not allow Google to see any of the data coming in and out. That’s the only way to sell the security of this with Apple to consumers and many who have stuck with Apple because of their strong stance on user privacy.

So, we’ll just have to wait and see what exactly is happening when they make an official presentation around it. This is just an announcement that they’re partnering. Now, I’ve talked about how I always felt Google would be the best partner, even if it felt weird at times, but it’s happening now.

So, Apple may have lost this initial battle, and it’s not a good thing at all they did, but they would have spent so much more money trying to play catch-up, and then who knows how good or how bad it would have been. So, it makes sense to partner up. But when I really see this benefiting Apple is not just for the phone, but for the next user interface and user experience for the future of wearables.

CES was packed with so many different AR glasses of different shapes, sizes, and features that they focused on. You can’t ignore that this is going to be a major and next battleground in emerging tech. This also in the smart home, right? You had the growth in innovation for the smart home at CES 2026. That was more than any other year, and it was flat-out impressive.

Now, the smart home is also where Apple is still barely anywhere to be found other than what older HomePods and a little bit of the Apple TV if you consider it part of the smart home, but not much. And I’ve touched on this in a previous video, but even if Apple is late to the party with wearable glasses, they need a competent way to use them. And this partnership with Google Gemini now gives them a platform that they can leverage for wearables.

Let’s just get this out of the way. All right, Siri. It is elementary and has been so weak of a product that many of us just completely ignored it and almost completely stopped using it for other than what timers and alarms. You need something significantly more advanced to interact with wearable glasses as your primary experience. And that’s what Gemini is.

The biggest key is that Gemini is a multi-modal AI. So what does that mean? Well, it’s a system that can understand and interact with multiple data types at the same time, like text, speech, images, and video. That’s exactly what you need with a device that will likely have some sort of a camera on it to help interpret the world that you see.

Open AI is also multimodal, but it hasn’t shown off its capabilities to the extent that Google has because they don’t have an actual consumer device that people use on a daily basis. Now, Open AI conveniently is also poised to be a competitor to Apple with this next generation of, let’s call it physical AI or devices that are driven by AI. And that’s what makes this Google Gemini partnership interesting to me.

Not only is Apple aligning with Google, but it appears that they’re also doing it because they are preparing for a battle of their own with Open AI and OpenAI’s future hardware. Well, that is being spearheaded by former Apple design lead Johnny IV. And we know IV has done so much for the design world with consumer electronics, the design identity of Apple as a whole, and many other companies who have tried to emulate that design in their own products.

I mean, how many times have we said about something, “Hey, that looks like an Apple product if they designed it.” Like that’s a real thing. Now, IVA has been talking about how they have the next key product that will exist alongside your laptop and phone, and it’s a groundbreaking device. We’ll see. I mean, maybe it’s a significantly more advanced version of the humane AI pin that failed miserably. I mean, who knows at this moment, but the tech world is paying attention to what Open AI is doing.

Ultimately, whether you use these new features that Google Gemini will be bringing to the next generation of Siri and Apple intelligence, this is a smart move for Apple based on the perception of what they’ve been doing up to this point. And it is a name that people are familiar with and can trust to a certain degree, but yes, they’re going to have to squash all those privacy concerns, which I think they will.

But it’s also a kick to the groin, right? Knowing that Apple had to go to Google to power the most important feature for their future mobile devices and for future devices moving forward. And they couldn’t build it on their own. Like that’s a sad Apple. Now that in itself shows you how times have changed, right? How caught off guard Apple was by the AI movement and how even though this may be the most profitable Apple we have ever seen, right? They are still making great products, but this is a different Apple as well.

In fact, the latest data released by Counterpoint Research says Apple still emerged as the global smartphone market leader in 2025, capturing 20% of market share with a 10% year-over-year shipment growth, which is the highest among the top five phone brands. And the new iPhone 17 lineup had a part to play in that.

Now, Samsung was right behind them with a 19% market share, but a more modest 5% shipment growth. And Xiaomi was third with a 13% market share. Now, in the fourth quarter of 2025, Apple accounted for one quarter of all global shipments and its highest ever quarterly share according to the report. So, things with Apple are still strong, but I want to ask you, what do you think of this new partnership?

Are you happy about it? Are you upset that they went with Google Gemini? Or do you not even care because you don’t plan on using your phone any different? Hey, let me know in the comments because I will be reading them. And this is huge news for the tech world coming right out of CES 2026, basically right after the weekend on a Monday.

And I wanted to say also very much so, thank you for the kind words for me and my wife and this new journey of fatherhood. In fact, by the time some of you see this, baby Tong will be here. And that’s going to be incredible.

All right, so that’s going to do it for this video. If you like what you see, give me that thumbs up, subs up, and hit that notification bell to get all my latest videos when they drop. And if you want more of that Apple goodness, you can check out my weekly Apple Bits XL audio podcast with the latest stories and special guests. Plus, you can support all my content with an ad-free version of the podcast, early access to my content, and exclusive content at patreon.com/brian.

So, thanks so much for watching, and I’ll see you all in the next video. Peace and love.