Apple just did something it almost never does: it admitted it needed help. At WWDC26 on June 8, 2026, the company unveiled a completely rebuilt Siri for iOS 27, and the new Siri is powered by Apple Foundation Models co-developed with Google using the technology behind Gemini. After years of Siri being the punchline of every smart assistant joke, Apple has handed the brains of its most personal feature to a rival, and the result might finally be the Siri people have begged for.
If you have ever screamed at Siri for misunderstanding a simple request, this is the update you have waited years for. Here is everything that actually changes, the surprising Gemini twist, and when you can get your hands on it.
The new Siri can finally hold a real conversation
The biggest change is that the new Siri understands natural, back and forth conversation. You no longer have to bark rigid commands. You can speak the way you talk to a person, refer back to what you just said, and let Siri keep up. It also gains genuine personal context, meaning it can pull details from your messages, emails, and apps to actually answer questions about your life instead of dumping you onto a web search.
It is also far more capable on screen. The new Siri has onscreen awareness, so it understands what you are looking at and can act on it. It can take real actions inside your apps, edit and write emails, texts, and documents in your own words, and even live inside the Camera app to help with what it sees. The voice itself got a glow up too, with more natural expression and adjustable pace, so it can sound excited or calm depending on what it is reading.
The Gemini twist nobody saw coming
Here is the headline that set the internet on fire. Apple, the company famous for building everything itself, is now leaning on Google. The next generation of Apple Foundation Models was co-developed with Google using Gemini technology, running both on your device and on Apple’s Private Cloud Compute servers for privacy. Even wilder, Apple is adding an Extensions system that lets you choose a different default assistant, including Claude from Anthropic, if you prefer it.
That is a massive philosophical shift. For years everyone assumed one company, Apple, Google, or OpenAI, would own the default AI on your phone. Instead Apple is outsourcing its most personal interface to a competitor and opening the door to a third. Depending on who you ask, that is either a humbling admission of how far behind Siri fell, or a genuinely smart bet that users want choice instead of one locked in assistant.
What Apple fans are actually saying
Here is the part the keynote glossed over. On r/apple, the top discussion was not celebration, it was a pointed question: did Apple just hand Siri to Google and crack the iPhone open for Claude, and is the dream of one AI to rule them all officially dead? The replies are split down the middle. Long suffering iPhone users are cautiously thrilled that Siri might finally work, while skeptics point out that Apple has now delayed this Siri overhaul twice and will believe it when they are using it. That tension, hope mixed with battle scars, is the real mood around this launch.
The single most upvoted reaction came from the top thread on r/apple, and it captures the whole debate in one line.
“Apple just handed Siri to Google’s Gemini and opened the iPhone to Claude. Is the one AI wins it all narrative officially dead?”
That post, and the full r/apple discussion, shows exactly how split iPhone users are on this move.
When can you actually use the new Siri
Here is the catch. The new Siri features are available to developers for testing now across iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, and visionOS 27, with a public beta this summer and the full release in the fall. It starts in English, with more languages coming later, and it will not be available in China at launch while Apple works through local rules. You will need an iPhone 16 or later, or an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max, to run it.
There is one piece of genuinely good news for everyone else. iOS 27 itself runs on every iPhone that supported iOS 26, going all the way back to the 2019 iPhone 11, which Apple says is its longest compatibility list ever. So even if your phone cannot run the fancy new Siri, you still get iOS 27. If you are weighing your next phone around all this, our iPhone vs Android breakdown is a useful next read, and you can see how the wider AI assistant world looks in our roundup of the best free AI apps for Android.
For the official details, Apple laid everything out in its WWDC26 newsroom post, and TechCrunch has a solid feature roundup.
New Siri FAQ
Is the new Siri really powered by Google Gemini?
Yes. Apple built its next generation Foundation Models with Google using Gemini technology, running on device and on Apple’s private servers.
When does the new Siri come out?
Developer testing is live now, a public beta arrives this summer, and the full release ships in the fall with iOS 27.
Which iPhones get the new Siri?
The new Siri needs an iPhone 16 or later, or an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max. iOS 27 itself supports phones back to the iPhone 11.
The bottom line
The new Siri is the boldest move Apple has made in AI, precisely because so much of it is not Apple’s. By teaming with Google and opening the door to Claude, Apple is betting that a Siri that actually works matters more than a Siri it built alone. If the demos hold up in real life, this could finally turn Siri from a running joke into a reason to stay on iPhone.
Your turn: did Apple finally fix Siri?
Now I want your honest take in the comments. Are you genuinely excited that Siri runs on Gemini now, or does it feel strange that Apple had to borrow Google’s brain to fix its own assistant? Do not just lurk, tell us: will you switch your default assistant to Claude if Apple lets you, or stick with the new Siri? And if you have suffered through years of bad Siri, what is the one request you will test first to see if it really changed? Drop it below, I read and reply to every comment.
