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Apple’s WWDC26 keynote, Tim Cook’s last as CEO before handing over to John Ternus in September, delivered the fully confirmed version of what Bloomberg had previewed since May: a rebuilt Siri running on a 1.2 trillion-parameter Gemini model licensed from Google at approximately $1 billion per year, with developer betas shipping today across iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, and visionOS 27.

The consumer release ships in September alongside the iPhone 18 lineup.

What the preview coverage did not cover: two major market exclusions, and an unresolved commerce question that has Apple’s biggest developer partners holding back.

Two Markets Don’t Get iOS Siri AI at Launch

Siri AI will not be available in iOS or iPadOS in the European Union at launch.

EU users on Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro can access it. EU users on iPhone and iPad cannot. Apple cited ongoing regulatory requirements without naming the Digital Markets Act explicitly, but the reference is transparent: DMA obligations around interoperability and gatekeeper rules remain the primary friction point between Apple and the EU on AI features.

China gets a blanket exclusion. Siri AI — and the new Apple Intelligence features that depend on it — will not be available in China while Apple works through regulatory approval there. No timeline was given.

This creates a first-in-kind geographic split for a flagship Apple software release. Apple’s previous major AI announcement, the ChatGPT integration in iOS 18.2, launched without EU access before eventually clearing the regulatory hurdle. The company is following the same pattern at larger scale.

The Extensions Framework and the 30% Question

iOS 27 ships the Siri Extensions API: a mechanism that lets any AI product from the App Store connect directly into Siri’s inference layer, Writing Tools, and Image Playground. ChatGPT has early access. Claude and Gemini are confirmed as next. Any App Store AI can apply once Apple formally opens the framework.

Apple has explicitly not ruled out charging App Store subscription commission — up to 30% — on in-app purchases made through Extension-enabled AI services. That commercial position remains unresolved. The Information reported in May that Apple told prominent developers it would not charge in the early stages but had not committed to a permanent policy.

Several major app companies are waiting on pricing clarity before committing to Extension development. Developer Blake Crosley demonstrated that the technical integration takes an 80-line Swift file. The business model question, not the technical one, is the hold-up.

What Launched

Siri AI. The official product name, not used in any prior announcement. Full conversational context, personal data access (email, messages, photos, calendar), cross-app task execution via App Intents, on-screen awareness, and web lookup. Conversation history syncs privately via iCloud.

Image Playground. Generates photorealistic images from text prompts, built on Apple Foundation Models. Available in Photos, Notes, and as a standalone app.

Visual Intelligence in Camera. A dedicated camera carousel mode powered by Google Image Search that identifies objects in the lens in real time. Separate from Siri AI but part of the same Apple Intelligence umbrella.

Workout Buddy. Apple Watch integration that uses Siri AI for real-time guidance and answers during workouts. Available on Watch Series 6 or later. Requires an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone.

The Architecture

Apple Foundation Models are not Gemini rebranded. The company licenses a 1.2 trillion-parameter Gemini model from Google to train its own smaller on-device models. End users interact with Apple Foundation Models; the Gemini weights are the training substrate, not the inference endpoint. User queries do not reach Google’s infrastructure. The contract explicitly bars Google from using Siri interactions as training data.

The arrangement cost approximately $1 billion per year and was signed in January 2026, with Google Cloud chief Thomas Kurian confirming the terms publicly in April at Google Cloud Next. The Gemini inference runs on Nvidia B200 Blackwell chips inside Apple’s Private Cloud Compute nodes — Apple hardware, not Google servers.

Device Requirements

Siri AI requires iPhone 16 or later for most features. iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max qualify for the personal context and cross-app actions capabilities. iPhone 15 and earlier do not.

On iPad: A17 Pro (iPad mini) or M1 chip and later. On Mac: M1 and later. Apple Watch: Series 10, Ultra 2, or SE 3 when paired with a qualifying iPhone.

Timeline

Developer betas available now. Public beta: July 2026. Consumer release: fall 2026, alongside iPhone 18 and iOS 27.

Siri AI will initially be English-only in the consumer beta. Language expansion follows through the fall. EU and China iOS exclusions have no public resolution date.