Apple unveils Gemini-powered Siri and iOS 27 at WWDC

Want to know whether Siri finally works the way it should? After years of promises, Apple used its Cupertino stage to show a version that no longer sounds like an excuse. What is new here is not a fresh icon, but the engine underneath it.

At the WWDC 2026 keynote, held on June 8 at the company’s headquarters, Apple introduced a Siri rebuilt from the ground up. The assistant is now powered by a custom version of Google’s Gemini model, and the two companies have signed a multi-year licensing deal. That is a major shift for a firm that has spent years insisting on its own software stack, and a clear sign that its in-house language model was simply running late.

Let me settle the obvious question right away: Apple is not handing everything you say to Google. The assistant uses several layers of processing. Simple tasks stay on the device itself, while heavier requests go to Apple’s Private Cloud Compute, the infrastructure the company introduced earlier. Google supplies the model here, not the servers your data flows through.

Craig Federighi, who runs software at Apple, summed it up in one line on stage: “We believe privacy in artificial intelligence is non-negotiable.” Marketing, of course, but also the bar this partnership will be measured against.

What was actually announced on stage?

Beyond Siri, Apple presented a whole new family of operating systems: iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, tvOS 27 and visionOS 27. Public betas arrive in July, with full releases in the fall, on the company’s usual cadence.

The most visible change is visual. The new design is called Liquid Glass and brings adjustable interface transparency, so users can decide how much of the background shows through the menus. It comes with a speed promise too: according to Apple, apps launch up to 30 percent faster, and photos load more quickly than before.

This was also Tim Cook’s farewell keynote as chief executive. Cook moves to the role of executive chairman on September 1, when John Ternus, the longtime hardware chief, takes over as CEO. The end of an era, announced without much fanfare, tucked between software demos.

What does this mean for users outside the US?

Here comes the awkward part. The new Siri features will not be available right away in the European Union, because of the obligations imposed by the Digital Markets Act. Markets that follow the EU lead tend to see the same delays, since Apple usually makes one decision for the whole European region rather than country by country.

In practice, that means you will probably get iOS 27 on time, with its new look and faster apps, but the clever part, the Siri Apple shows on stage, will land later. It is worth waiting before you judge how useful the upgrade really is in everyday use.

My recommendation is simple: if you already have a supported phone, do not rush into the beta. Wait for the full fall release and the first real-world tests. An assistant that has under-delivered for years deserves to be judged only once it runs on your device, not on a demo stage in California.

So, would you trust an assistant that processes part of your commands through Google’s model, or is that a step too far for you?