Apple and AI in 2026: Siri 2.0 with Gemini, iOS 27, and the WWDC That Defines the Future of Apple Intelligence

WWDC 2026: The Most Important AI Event in Apple's History

Today, June 8, 2026, Apple opens its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2026 — the annual developer event that this year has become far more than a software showcase. Under the official tagline "All Systems Glow", Apple had long locked in the date for its most important event of the year. And while it has historically been a developer-focused gathering, this year the pressure from the market and the AI industry turns the opening keynote into a genuine strategic inflection point.

After two years of promises, delays, and a strategy that has at times looked more reactive than visionary compared to rivals like Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft, the question is no longer whether Apple has a vision for AI — it's whether the company can still convince anyone it's capable of executing on it. This edition arrives at a particularly sensitive moment for Apple: following months of criticism over delayed Apple Intelligence features and increasingly aggressive competition from OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft, the company is under serious pressure to prove it can still lead the conversation on artificial intelligence.

Siri 2.0: The Biggest Overhaul Since Launch

The most anticipated announcement is the formal unveiling of Siri 2.0 — the redesigned assistant that is supposed to finally deliver what Apple promised at WWDC 2024: chained conversations, an understanding of user context that persists over time, and end-to-end task execution without requiring users to repeat themselves at every step.

In today's keynote, Apple introduced iOS 27 and a completely rebuilt Siri that runs in part on a customized Google Gemini model — the clearest signal yet that the world's most valuable consumer technology company has chosen to license frontier AI rather than build it in-house.

The new assistant adopts a chatbot-style interface with a system-wide "Search or Ask" gesture and a clip for attaching images and PDFs. More importantly, Siri now accesses the user's personal context — emails, photos, files, on-screen content — and chains actions across apps. Bloomberg also reports that the WWDC introduces a standalone Siri app that will compete directly with ChatGPT and Claude as a general-purpose chatbot, featuring a new "Ask Siri" button and a completely redesigned interface.

The Historic Apple-Google Deal: One Billion Dollars a Year

On January 12, 2026, Apple and Google jointly announced a multi-year partnership that sent shockwaves through the entire tech industry: Google's Gemini AI models would become the foundation powering a rebuilt Siri and the next generation of Apple Intelligence features. The deal, estimated at roughly one billion dollars per year according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, represents a seismic shift in Apple's artificial intelligence strategy.

According to Google Cloud executives, this partnership will be a cornerstone in building what are called "Apple Foundation Models" — the base models Apple will use to develop new intelligent features across its ecosystem. In plain terms, Apple would continue designing the user experience while Google provides the technology for advanced language processing and understanding.

Apple's on-device models continue handling fast, privacy-sensitive tasks, while more complex queries are routed to Google's larger model within Apple's Private Cloud Compute infrastructure. Apple framed privacy as an absolute constraint: queries are processed statelessly, nothing is retained, and the contract explicitly prohibits Google from using Apple user data to train future versions of Gemini.

Apple has signed a deal worth approximately one billion dollars per year with Google to use Gemini as its intelligence engine. However, it will be completely invisible to users, who will only ever see "Siri" and "Apple Intelligence" — no Google branding anywhere.

Apple Intelligence Extensions: The iPhone as an Open AI Platform

One of the most disruptive announcements at WWDC 2026 is the Apple Intelligence Extensions framework. The heart of it is Apple Intelligence Extensions — a framework that will allow external models like Claude, Gemini, or ChatGPT to be integrated directly into the operating system, transforming Siri from a command-driven assistant into an agent capable of planning, executing, and verifying complex actions across apps.

Here's how it works: you install a compatible app, enable it as an Extension in Settings, and from that point on you can choose to have Claude, Gemini, or another model handle requests you make to Siri, texts you want to rewrite with Writing Tools, or images you want to generate. Apple also plans a dedicated section in the App Store to highlight apps compatible with Extensions.

What's most striking about the Extensions approach is the strategic humility it implies: admitting you don't have the best model in the world, and instead positioning yourself as the best interface for using any model, is a bold and arguably correct decision for a company whose real differentiator is the hardware-software ecosystem — not AI models.

AI Agents in the App Store: A New Era for Developers

According to reports from The Information, Apple plans to introduce AI agent integration into the App Store. While details remain sparse, these agents are expected to streamline tasks like making reservations, managing daily activities, editing documents, and controlling smart devices.

Current App Store rules prohibit apps from executing code that alters their own functionality or that of other apps after Apple has approved them. AI agents do exactly that, continuously — they create dynamic mini-apps, execute code generated in real time, perform actions across applications, and complete multi-step workflows autonomously. This technical conflict is one of the biggest challenges Apple needs to resolve at WWDC.

There is a concrete opportunity here for the Spanish-speaking market: Apple is prioritizing English-language use cases, which leaves room for agents specialized in Latin American and Spanish markets — think local bureaucratic processes, regional bank integrations, and region-specific workflow automation. This kind of geographic specialization could become a real competitive advantage over global players.

Apple Intelligence and Accessibility: AI That Transforms Lives

Before WWDC, on May 19, 2026, Apple announced from its official website a set of new accessibility features powered by Apple Intelligence. Apple previewed a suite of accessibility updates that use Apple Intelligence to bring new capabilities to features users rely on every day, including VoiceOver, Magnifier, Voice Control, and Accessibility Reader. Apple also announced on-device generated captions for video content that lacks subtitles, as well as a new feature allowing Apple Vision Pro users to control compatible wheelchairs using only their eyes.

Leveraging the ultra-precise eye-tracking system built into the mixed-reality headset, users who cannot operate a physical joystick will now be able to control compatible power wheelchairs using only their gaze. It requires no constant recalibration and works in any lighting condition.

The Legal Storm: Apple Pays $250 Million and OpenAI Threatens to Sue

The road to WWDC 2026 has been anything but smooth on the legal front. Apple will pay $250 million (around €213 million) to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the company of false advertising in its promotion of advanced AI features for Apple Intelligence and Siri following repeated launch delays.

At the same time, the relationship with OpenAI has deteriorated badly. OpenAI's core complaint is straightforward: the deal never delivered what was expected. The company had calculated that the Siri integration could bring in billions of dollars a year in subscriptions. Reality fell far short of that projection. Worse still, OpenAI believes that the way Apple implemented the technology ultimately damaged its own brand in the eyes of users.

For Siri to return a ChatGPT response, users have to explicitly say the word "ChatGPT" out loud. Responses appear in a small window with truncated information. The result: Apple users would rather go directly to the ChatGPT app than go through Siri. According to information reported by Bloomberg, OpenAI's legal team is working with an outside law firm to send Apple a notice of alleged breach of contract. While it does not yet constitute a formal lawsuit, it is the step that typically precedes legal action.

iOS 27 and the Road to September

According to information from Applesfera, Apple has decided to unify the naming convention across all its platforms — meaning this year will bring iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, tvOS 27, and visionOS 27. macOS 27, iPadOS 27, and watchOS 27 are expected to receive a significant share of the new AI features, with the goal of simplifying actions that currently require multiple steps — from creating automations using natural language to finding specific files or generating complete workflows just by describing what you need.

Apple will release the first developer betas on June 8 itself, open the public beta in July, and plans to ship the stable release of iOS 27 in mid-September, timed to coincide with the unveiling of the iPhone 18. According to analysts, the full feature set will arrive first for English-language users, with Spanish not yet included at launch. Apple Foundation Models have historically rolled out in English first, with progressive expansion to other languages. Spanish typically follows three to six months after the main launch.

What This Means for Entrepreneurs and SMBs in Latin America

Apple's push to turn Siri into an intelligent agent capable of executing complex tasks, integrating external models, and operating with on-device privacy has direct implications for the business world. The market for voice assistants and intelligent personal assistants — where platforms like Siri, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude compete — is estimated to be worth $44.26 billion in 2026, with projected annual growth of between 15 and 24 percent, potentially pushing the industry past $158 billion by 2035. For Latin American SMBs operating within the Apple ecosystem, the arrival of AI agents capable of automating reservations, managing documents, and chaining actions across apps represents a concrete opportunity to boost productivity without requiring major investments in technology infrastructure.

In this context, platforms like Doobl.IA (dooblia.com) enable companies across Latin America to adopt AI agents to automate their social media operations and customer service — without depending on the release cycles of large corporations like Apple, and with the flexibility to adapt to the specific needs of each regional market.