Apple opens WWDC today, new Siri runs on Google model
Apple opens WWDC 2026 tonight at 7 p.m. CET, with a rebuilt Siri powered by Google's Gemini model at the center, plus Tim Cook's last major keynote as chief executive.
- The WWDC 2026 keynote starts today at 7 p.m. CET at Apple's headquarters, Apple Park in Cupertino.
- The new Siri runs on a custom version of Google's Gemini model, under a deal worth roughly 1 billion dollars a year that the two companies announced in January.
- Developer betas of six operating systems, including iOS 27, ship the same day after the keynote.
- This is Tim Cook's last major keynote as chief executive, with John Ternus taking over on September 1.
Want to know why this Apple event is different from the last few? Because for the first time Apple is letting its assistant speak with someone else’s brain. Tonight at 7 p.m. Central European time, at its Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, the company opens WWDC 2026, its annual developer gathering, and the spotlight is on a Siri rebuilt from the ground up.
This is not a routine refresh. For years the old Siri was a punchline, slow and overly literal, while rivals raced ahead. Now Apple is swapping the engine under the hood, and that engine was built by another company. This piece sticks to what is confirmed going into the keynote, because what Apple actually shows on stage we will only see tonight.
What the new Siri really changes
The biggest shift is who powers the assistant. The new Siri runs on a customized version of Google’s Gemini model, under a deal the two companies announced back in January. That agreement is estimated at around 1 billion dollars a year, a sign of how much it matters to Apple to finally field an assistant on par with the competition.
For users, this does not mean data flows off to Google unchecked. The model runs inside Apple’s Private Cloud Compute system, an environment Apple controls and presents as private. Under the hood it sits on a mixture-of-experts architecture, an approach where only part of the model wakes up for any given task, which makes responses faster and cheaper to process.
In plain terms, the goal is a Siri that grasps what you actually want, follows the thread of a conversation, and can chain several steps together instead of dumping you into a web search. How well Apple has pulled that off is something we can only judge once the assistant reaches phones, not from the slides on stage.
Will my phone get the new features?
That is the question every iPhone owner asks today, and the answer depends on your model. The same day as the keynote, Apple ships developer betas of six operating systems, iOS 27 among them. Those betas are not for everyone; they target developers preparing apps, while the wider public gets them later in the summer and into the autumn.
There is bad news for older hardware too. According to the announcement, iOS 27 will drop support for the iPhone 11 and the second-generation iPhone SE, with the A14 chip becoming the new minimum. If you own one of those phones, this is likely the last big update you will get, so it is worth keeping in mind before you think about a replacement.
Above all, tonight carries personal weight for Apple. This is Tim Cook’s last major keynote as chief executive. John Ternus takes over on September 1, while Cook stays on as executive chairman. So the same stage marks both the end of one era and the start of Apple’s big bet on artificial intelligence.
And you, would you give a Siri that quietly leans on Google’s model a chance, or does it not matter who powers the assistant as long as it works?
