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Apple Just Opened Siri to Gemini and Claude. Siri Will Never Be the Same.

Apple just admitted something they have been refusing to say for two years.

Siri is not good enough.

On March 26, Bloomberg broke a story that changes how a billion people will use their iPhones. Apple is opening Siri to rival AI assistants in iOS 27. That means Google Gemini and Anthropic Claude will plug directly into your iPhone, right inside Siri.

For years, Apple kept saying “privacy first” while everyone else raced ahead in AI. Now they have a different strategy. If you cannot beat them, let them join you.

Here is what is happening, what it means, and why every Indian iPhone user needs to pay attention.

What Apple Actually Announced (And What It Means)

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported on March 26, 2026, that Apple is building a new feature called “Extensions” into iOS 27. This feature will allow AI assistants from other companies to work directly inside Siri.

Right now, the only third-party AI that works with Siri is ChatGPT. Apple signed a deal with OpenAI for iOS 18. But starting with iOS 27, that exclusivity is over.

Here is how it will work. If you have the Google Gemini app or the Claude app installed on your iPhone, you will be able to route your Siri queries to those assistants. You pick which one in Settings under Apple Intelligence and Siri. Siri becomes the doorway. The AI behind it is your choice.

Apple plans to announce this at WWDC 2026 on June 8.

NEW: Apple’s long-planned upgrade to the Siri virtual assistant has run into snags during testing in recent weeks, potentially pushing back the release of several highly anticipated functions to at least iOS 26.5 and iOS 27. https://t.co/Nke3FJPaX8
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) February 11, 2026

Which AI Assistants Are Coming to Your iPhone

Three names are confirmed or strongly expected for iOS 27 Siri Extensions:

ChatGPT (OpenAI) is already here. It works in iOS 18 and higher. The existing deal continues.

Google Gemini is confirmed. Apple is working with Google on deep Gemini integration. Given that Google already pays Apple billions to be the default Safari search engine, this relationship runs deep.

Anthropic Claude is also confirmed. Claude is known for being precise and thoughtful, making it a strong choice for research, writing, and detailed tasks directly from your phone.

Other models could follow. The “Extensions” framework suggests Apple is building an open platform, not a closed list of three.

Apple Has Been Losing the AI Race for Two Years

This move did not come out of nowhere. Apple has been struggling with AI since ChatGPT launched in late 2022 and changed everyone’s expectations about what an AI assistant should do.

Siri was already five years old when ChatGPT arrived. While OpenAI trained models on hundreds of billions of parameters, Siri was still struggling to set timers correctly and misunderstanding Indian accents.

Apple’s own Siri executive described the delays internally as “embarrassing and ugly.” That is a strong phrase for a company known for never admitting weakness publicly.

The features Apple promised for Siri in 2024, like deep app context understanding and personal AI assistance, kept getting delayed. iOS 26.4 tried to push some of them through but still ran into testing problems. iOS 27 is Apple’s big bet to finally get this right.

But opening the door to rivals sends a clear signal. Building a frontier AI model that can compete with GPT-5 or Gemini Pro is not something Apple can do on its current timeline. So they are taking a different path entirely.

Why This Is a Smart Move and a Risky One at the Same Time

The smart part is straightforward. Apple has 1.2 billion active iPhones. That is the largest hardware distribution in consumer tech history. By turning Siri into a universal AI front door, Apple stays relevant even if it cannot build the best model in the world.

Think of it like the App Store. Apple does not make every app. But they control the platform, the experience, and the relationship with the user. Siri Extensions could work the same way.

The risk is equally real. Every time a user picks Gemini or Claude over Siri’s native response, Apple loses engagement data. They lose the chance to learn what their billion users actually want. Over time, if users prefer third-party AIs to the native Apple experience, Siri could quietly become irrelevant inside its own home.

The deeper question is this. Is Apple building a better AI or just a better AI launcher?

What This Means for Indian iPhone Users

India is one of the fastest growing iPhone markets in the world. Apple opened its first India stores in 2023. iPhone 16 sales in India were strong. And Apple is now manufacturing iPhones in Chennai.

For Indian users specifically, this update has real implications.

Siri’s Hindi and regional language support has always been noticeably weak. Gemini and Claude have trained on significantly more multilingual data, including Indian language context. When they become available through Siri Extensions, Indian users could finally get an AI assistant on iPhone that actually understands how they speak and what they need.

Indian professionals who already use Claude or Gemini for work will be able to use their preferred AI through a voice interface on their phone. That changes the daily workflow for millions of people in tech, education, and business.

The OpenAI Partnership Is Not Gone But It Is Weaker Now

OpenAI had something genuinely rare: exclusive AI access to Siri on one billion iPhones. That was a massive competitive moat.

iOS 27 breaks that moat. ChatGPT remains one option, but it is now one of several. Google and Anthropic will compete for the same screen time and user attention.

OpenAI is already working on its own operating system and AI phone hardware. The Apple-OpenAI relationship may be evolving from partnership to competition. This Siri update could be the first visible crack in a relationship that was always more tactical than strategic.

Key Takeaways

Here is what you need to know:

Apple is opening Siri to rival AI assistants, including Google Gemini and Anthropic Claude, in iOS 27
The feature is called “Extensions” and will be announced at WWDC on June 8, 2026
Users choose their preferred AI inside Settings under Apple Intelligence and Siri
ChatGPT stays but loses its exclusive status for the first time
Apple is choosing distribution over competition: they cannot build the best AI, so they are letting the best AIs in
For Indian users, this is a real upgrade. Better language support, more accurate answers, more choices
The big question: Does this save Siri or slowly make it irrelevant?

iOS 27 drops this fall. WWDC on June 8 is when we will see the full picture.

The AI race just got more interesting. And your iPhone is right in the middle of it.